Only The Strongest
by Battle Damage
Summary: Humanity has been at war for the last fifteen thousand years... and we are losing. On the edge of extinction, our God-Emperor announces Project Arc... a plan that will save our race... and nothing will stop us from our goal. (All Warhammer 40K references are on purpose.)
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

August 2043- World War Three breaks out as China and the United States of America fight over who has the rights to mine the moon for resources.

September 2079- World War Three ends with the United States as the only country still capable of self-suffenciancy and renames the moon 'Luna' in honor of Beatrice 'Luna' Jamesson, who brought the opposing sides into talks of peace.

September 2096- The United States is the first country to colonize Mars, followed soon after by Saturn's Moons.

July 2184- The first faster-than-light drive is invented allowing mankind to travel beyond their solar system.

December 3145- Mars rebels against the United States, resulting in Nuclear Weapons being deployed and Mars being turned into an uninhabitable waisteland.

August 3146- A human claiming to be the Emperor of Mankind emerges from the Nuclear wastes of Mars.

May 3167- The Emperor of Mankind is declared a God by the people after succesfully unifying Mankind amongst the Sol system, creating the Terran Empire.

May 3167- The God-Emperor of Mankind declares that it is mankinds Manifest Destiny to conquer the galaxy.

January 4578- The first permanent human colony is created on the planet Pavonis of the Ursa Majoris System.

June 867 of the 17th Millennium- First contact with an alien species, nicknamed Horrors for their grotesque appearance, and humanity declares a war of extermination after the Horrors wipe out a human colony on the world of Armageddon.

March 589 of the 20th Millennium- the first Adept Angelus are created to combat the rising threat against Humankind.

September 254 of the 21st Millenium- the Horrors atempt to invade the Sol system, humanity's home-system, and nearly succeed.

May 984 of the 22nd Millennium- the Second War for Armageddon begins resulting in over five billion cassualties in the first month of combat.

Febuary 376 of the 28th Millennium- the Third War for Armegeddon begins resulting in over ten trillion cassualties after one year of war.

July 101 of the 28th Millennium- The humans destroy the star, Ursa Majoris, to prevent the Horrors from taking over the system.

October 254 of the 32nd Millennium- With humanity on the edge of extinction, the Emperor of Mankind embarks on Project Ark to save humanity.

It is the thirty second millenium. In the darkness of the far future, there is only war. The God-Emperor fights contantly to protect humanity from the horrors of space. On the fringes of the Terran Empire, an alien race wages a war of extermination. All that stands in their way, are the mighty Marines. They are more than mortal. They are doom incarnate. And the greatest of them all... are the Luna Wolves. But even they are barely enough to hold to back the alien hordes.

With humanity on the edge of extinction, the Emperor embarks upon Project Ark.

* * *

A single lavender colored unicorn with a purple mane that had a pink stripe running through it, layed on the blood stained snow, shivering uncontrollably. The mare was cold, wet, and her left hoof throbbed with intense pain. She watched, with bright purple eyes, as rank upon rank of crimson colored warriors marched from the massive alien ship. Despite the fear that was coursing through her veins, the unicorn was simply amazed by the sheer engineering awesomeness of the alien ship. The ship was a light grey, had a domed shaped prow, and a cylindrical shaped body that ended with several cone shaped protrusions that the unicorn couldn't at their function, and it was easily eight miles long.

"You are injured," a gravelly, robotic sounding voice suddenly said from behind the unicorn, nearly causing her to jump out of her skin from surprise. Turning around, the unicorn's heart stopped. Standing behind her was one of the aliens. It stood over eight and a half feet tall, and would probably tower over even Princess Celestia. Unlike the other aliens, this one had bone white armor with a golden right shoulder pad, and a blood red left shoulder. His helmet was a similar bone colored white as its armor and had what looked like a skullfor a facemask. The unicorn tried to look at the alien's eyes, but they seemed to be covered with red lenses. In its forehooves, it carried what looked like a much larger version of a musket.

"You have a compound fracture in your left forehoof. Please remain still as I administer antibiotics and a bone stabaliser," the alien continued. But the unicorn just stared in mortal terror as the alien brought its forehoover to her shoulder. She watched as the largest needle she had ever seen was ejected from a device on its wrist.

"What is your name little xeno?" the alien asked kindly as he pressed the needle into her shoulder, to the unicorn's surprise, there was no pain.

"T-Twilight... Twilight Sparkle..."

-24 HOURS EARLIER-

Stars glistened against the armored viewport of the bridge, a view that very few humans ever saw. But to the Captain, the novelty of the sight had worn off centuries ago. With wires connected to the back of his skull, the captain could feel and see every aspect of his ship's operation and function. But with the crew in stasis, no one could maintain the ship. And so the captain sat and watched as his ship slowly degraded and broke down.

When the planet appeared on the display in front of him, the captain tried to adjust the ship's course with the manuevering thrusters. But the fuel lines had long since degraded, and so the ship continued on its course, the captain's call for help went unanswered for the closest human ship was a galaxy away.

Canterlot/ Equestria

Twilight Sparkle was wrenched from her sleep by a deafening bang and the sound of shattering windows. Jumping out of bed, Twilight shook her head, trying to shake off the sleep that plagued her. Walking over to her now shattered window, she tried to avoid stepping on the shattered glass. Looking out the window and into the night sky of Canterlot, what the she saw took her breath away. A large... object that was a gunmetal grey and easily larger than Canterlot. It screamed over the city and then was gone, followed by a distant flash of light that Twilight barely saw in the distance.

Whatever it was that Twilight had just seen, it wasn't natural, and it definitely wasn't from Equestria.

* * *

"How big do you think it is?" Twilight Sparkle heard a Royal Guardspony say as he stared out of the window of the transport carriage. Looking around, Twilight looked at the collection of guards and scientists that filled the carriage. Nearly twelve hours ago, her mentor and ruler, Princess Celestia, had placed her student in charge of the expedition to investigate the object that had crashed on the border between the Griffon Empire and Equestria. The princess, in the absence of her sister and Flamingsteel, had sent her student with a battalion of guads and a hoofful of scientists to study it, and to quote the princess, 'Make sure that the Griffons are denied this potential resource.'

"I don't know," replied another guard. "Two miles long? Three?"

"Nah... I'd say more like twelve." said yet another guard.

There was a slight bump as the carriage landed on the snow laden ground. Stepping out of the carriage, Twilight covered her eyes as a gust of wind blew snow into the carriage.

"Miss Twilight!"a white pony wearing golden armor and electric blue hair called out as he ran up to her.

"Yes?" Twilight replied as she took a look around. In the short amount of time since they had been there, the Royal Guard had already set up a camp and had organized the supplies.

"A squad of guards think thay have located what looks like an entrance onto... whatever that thing is."

"Already? Well... I guess we should check it out then." Twilight said nervously. She didn't know why, but she just couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.

* * *

A large figure in hulking white armor stared down at the group of xenos. His white armor flowed over his body as if it were a second skin, a second skin that was nearly five inches thick and enhanced his already imense speed, strength, and stamina. He watched as the group of equines made camp in between the rear hangarbay and a service airlock that led to the chapel. If they managed to get inside the hangar bay, they wouldn't be able to do any damage for all of the essential items were in deep storage.

"My lord..." a voice said over the radio.

"Go ahead," the figure replied, his voice deep and menacing.

"The scouts are moving and the Wardog APC's are being brought from deep storage. Awaiting for further orders."

"Hold your position, we'll be leaving within the hour."

"Understood."

The figure continued to study the equines, watching them as his suit recorded them and analysed their biology. Seeing movement to the right, the figure looked at the hills directly to the south that lead to the mountains. Looking at the bottom of the helmet's Heads up Display, he blinked twice and the view was overlayed with a thermal image of the landscape. Squinting, the Heads up Display zoomed on the hill,and he saw about five dozen seperate heat signatures. The suit automatically scanned them and a semitransparent screen popped up.

_Species: Unknown_

_Charecteristics: Feathered, bird-like. Warm blooded. Crossbreed with a lion an an unknown type of bird._

_Conclusion: Contacts fit the physical discription of an ancient Terran creature from greek mythology called a Griffon. Would you like more information on the mythological history of the Griffon?_

_Yes/ No_

Blinking at the word no, he checked to make sure that he had all of his wepons.

"Threat analysis of new contacts," the figure whispered. Another screen popped up, as the figure unholtered his rifle and checked to see if it had a full magazine.

_Threat level: Unknown_

The figure closed the screen and opened the radio link to the strike force.

"Sergeant Tycho, get your squad prepared for immediate combat action. Their are xenos who might pose a threat," the figure said.

"Right away my lord," the marine sergeant replied. The figure in white was about to turn around and walk towards the rest of the task force when their was the sound of a distant explosion. Whirling around, the figure saw the service airlock engulfed in smoke. The equines in armor formed a rough semi-circle as the smoke billowed outwards. All of the armored equines carried crossbows, spears, or swords from Terra's midevil era. The figure in white armour watched as one of the armored equines ushered the ones that weren't in armour away from the explosion sight. Seeing an alert appear on his Heads up Display, the figure watched as the xeno-griffons charged and flew towards the large group of equines. Caught unawares, the equines barely had time to adjust their formation before the griffons were upon them.

The figure felt his heart beat harder as the two groups clashed and blood started to spill. He wished he was in that glorious mellee, hacking and slashing with his knife, basking in the bloodletting. Hearing rapid gunfire, the figure saw a squad of Heavy Assualt Marines jump down from the hangar bay doors and open fire with their heavy machine guns, the large caliber shells tearing through the equine's and griffons ranks. The equines and griffons were sent into confusion at this new and unexpected threat. The figure watched as both forces were cut to ribbons. The equines soon disengaged after the griffons moved to attack this new and greater threat. None of the griffons made it to the marine's firing line. They were all slaughtered and literally torn apart as the marines layed down an impenetrable wall of bullets.

The figure watched as the surviving equines boarded their strange transports. Two of the marines turned and braced themselves, before opening up with their machine guns. They were ridddled with bullets, the first one wasn't able to get off the ground, the second made it into the air and was about a couple humdred yards away before the two of the four winged equines pulling it were shot and killed, while the third was able to get away. As the second transport crashed, the figure scanned it for life signs. To his surprise, there was one of the equines was still alive.

Hopefully, it would stay alive.


	2. Chapter 2

"Come... the griffons will be back soon, and in greater numbers," Venatio told the purple equiene as he turned to walk away. The purple unicorn struggled to get up, her muscles were stiff from laying in the snow for so long. Surprisingly, her forehoof didn't hurt as she ran to keep up with the large alien in white armour.

"What... and who are you?" Venatio heard Twilight Sparkle ask as she struggled to keep up with his long and quick strides.

"My name is Venatio. I am a High Priest of the Adept Angelus, humans who have been so genetically augmented that they are no longer considered of the same species," Venatio replied awkwardly. He was not used to answering these kinds of questions, but he was determined to get the get the aliens of this world to trust him so he could properly document their culture and religion.

"Why did you come here?" the unicorn asked, the fear of him obvious.

"To escape the extinction of the human race. But I myself am here to provide religious guidance for my Battle-Brothers and to heal the wounded if required."

"You're a doctor?"

"Of sorts, yes," Venatio replied. In the distance he could see the two squads walking into a forest, the Wardog APC's manuevering around the trees. Venatio wasn't worried about being left behind by the squads. They weren't very far ahead and he could easily catch up if he needed to. Besides, without the presence of the men, he could talk to the alien equine without interruption.

"What field of medicine do you specialize in?" the equine asked, her fear slowly dissapating.

"Battlefield surgery mainly... but I know a lot about every kind. I gues it comes with living for over five thousand years."

"Five thousand years?"

"Yes... Adept Angelus have extremely long lifespans as a result of the augmentations we have received," Venatio began, "What is this place called?"

"Equestria..."

"And who is the dominant species?"

"It varies... but in Equestria its mainly ponies."

"There are other nations?"

"A few," Twilight replied before the two of them fell silent. After severel minutes of silence, Venatio cocked his head to the left, listening intently.

"What's wrong?' Twilight asked, suddenly growing worried. But Venatio did not respond, instead he took off his helmet. This was the first time she had seen one of the aliens face to face. His face was devoid of any fur or hair, his skin pale and leathery, and peircing silver eyes. As the alien smiled, Twilight had a good look at his overly developed canine teeth. As she stared at his glistening white canine teeth, the sudden image of a vam-pony entered her thoughts.

"The griffons are sending a force to track us down," Venatio said, "I would imagine that they would want revenge. We need to move, where is the nearest town, outpost... anything."

"Why can't we just go back to your ship?"

"Because they are coming from behind us. Me and my men have been assigned a mission and we will accomplish it... no matter the cost."

Twilight followed behind Venatio, watching the aliens as they moved through the forest. They moved in silence, and with a liquid grace that belied their large size. They were so silent that they had even startled Twilight on several occasions. Standing next to Venatio was another of the aliens. This one wore all black armor with a golden helmet.

"Venatio, ut quid et nos dimittimus xeno praesent?" the alien in black armor said in a language that Twilight didn't understand.

"Brother, imperator omnibus praedicatur tolerare," Venatio replied.

"Sed digni sunt morte," the one in black armor hissed. Venatio suddenly turned and smacked the other, nocking him to the ground.

"THESE XENOS DO NOT DESERVE TO DIE!" Venatio yelled. "They are a potential resource and we do not have the resources to go and kill eveything that isn't human. We might be the only humans left in the universe."

Twilight stared at Venatio, surprised and scared at this sudden display of hostility. Venatio turned to look at Twilight and then motioned for one of the others to come over. Twilight watched as another alien in white and grey clothes walk up and bowed.

"Vos autem sicut homines, my lord," the white armoured alien said.

"Sempis forno core tekesta. Mores ta kay Wyren coffer mottest. Arenza hydogothia musta," Venatio replied, nodding at Twilight. The smaller human nodded and made his way over to Twilight. Reaching into his backpack, the human pulled out a large grey cloak made from an animal's fur.

"The chaplain says that you're developing a minor case of hypothermia and that he can't administer treatment until we reach a safe place to make camp," the human told Twilight as he pulled out a knife that was nearly as long as she was tall. When Twilight thought about it, it made sense because she wasn't feeling anypain from her forehoof and she couldn't stop shivering. Twilight watched as the human used his knife to cut off stips of the cloak and held up the remainder after shoving the strips into his backpack.

"Here," the alien said as he handed the cloak to her. "It's made from Wyren fur, a wolf from Fenrisia, an ice planet. It should keep you warm."

Twilight put on the cloak, shivering as the fur tickled her skin. The human gave her a slight smile before his face exploded in a fountain of gore. Twilight screamed as the human fell back. But Twilight's scream went unheard for it was immediately drowned out by a cacophouny of deafening bangs. Twilight felt something hard and cold slip around her and she was lifted off the ground. She simply just screamed louder, hoping to be heard.

"Would you please stop your incessant screaming, it is getting quite annoying," a voice said from just above her, a voice that Twilight recognized. Looking up, she saw that Venatio was holding her close to his chest with one arm, while the other held a black boxy device.

"Twilight! Which way to your town?" Venatio said urgently as Twilight heard a high pitched whistle followed by several explosions over the already deafening sounds of the Marines fighting against griffons. Glancing around she tried to get her bearings straight.

"That way!" she said as she pointed her hoof north.

"Marines! Follow me! The Emperor protects!"

* * *

Venatio looked down at the unicorn he held in his right arm. She was mumbling about someone she called Fluttershy and would struggle for several seconds before settling down again. Venatio shook his head with a sigh. After four days of on and off fighting and constant mortar bombardment from griffons, the group of Marines had not found a place to rest. And so, Venatio made the decision to send the Wardog APC's to the east with the squad of scouts acting as an escort. But the Marines weren't without casualties, Scout Vorenus was currently in critical condition after being hit in the eye with a crossbow bolt, and there was the unicorn he was carrying. She had made it out of the danger zone from hypothermia, but now suffered from sleep deprivation, shell shock, and the memories of her traumatic experiences were catching up to her. It was very likely that the unicorn might die.

"Chaplain, the town's just up ahead," came the voice of Sergeant Ariel.

"Good, keep moving," Venatio replied. As the edge of the forest came into view, Venatio could see barely see several small structures that he assumed was the town. With the last burst of his already dwindling energy, Venatio sprinted, the ground shaking beneath the half a tonnes of his armor. As he broke from the treeline, Venatio saw that only several hundred yards seperated him and his men from the town. He heard the shrieking of more mortar fire just before the impacts. Venatio had only a split second to brace himself and to try and protect the unicorn as a mortar shell landed in front of him. Thrown from his feet, Venatio landed on his back several yards away. Blinking several times, Venatio rolled onto his hands and knees and shook his head. Laying several yards away from him was the motionless form of the lavender colored unicorn with the Wyren hide cloak wrapped around her. Forcing himself to stand up, Venatio ran at a crouch towards the unicorn. In one smooth motion, Venatio picked up the unicorn, drew his pistol, turned around, and fired at an overly-courageous griffon, blowing the griffon's head from its body.

"Firing line! Not one step backwards!" Venatio said as kneeled down and set the unicorn down. Several mechanical limbs folded out from Venatio's backpack, each one tipped with a medical device like a scalpel or a miniature bonesaw. Running a scan on the unicorn, Venatio found that other than several peices of shrapnel, there was nothing wrong with her that he wasn't peviously aware of. At minimum, the unicorn would need to be confined to a bed for the next week to completely recover. Glancing up, Venatio saw that the griffons were being slaghtered by the Marine's disciplined volleys of rifle fire. Each of their rifles fired a 105 millimeter self propelled, self arming, explosive shell, capable of punching through the all but the thickest of armour. The griffons had not expected to fight such powerful enemies and so only had light body armour... in short their bodies were literrally torn appart when the shells would detonate in their bodies.

"Corvius demn thempa!" Venatio yelled, unconsciously swithcing to his native language from his home-planet/moon, Luna. "Semper dorius!" Venatio turned back to the unicorn. While the unicorn wasn't in any immediate danger, he would need to remove several peices of shrapnel that were too close to several major arteries. As the mechanical arms made incisions and withdrew the shrapnel, Venatio was aware of the gunfire dying out and of three ponies approaching from behind him. After cutting the string for the last stitch, Venatio stood up and removed his helmet. Multiple scents assualted his nose, each one fighting to be recognized. He could smell the  
blood of the griffon-xenos, he could smell fear, sweat, and a fresh earthy smell that reminded him of Fireflowers, a flowering plant native to Armaggedon. But most of all, was the smell of a human. It was faint, but Venatio could smell it, and it wasn't the easily recognisable smell of a Marine.

Turning around, he saw three equines standing behind him. The first stood to the left and had a glistening white coat, both wings and a horn, would only come up to his stomach, and had a glittering mane and tail that waved in an invisible breaze. The second, which was also an alicorn like the first, had a royal blue coat, was about a foot shorter than the first one, and like the first, had a mane and tail that waved in an invisible breeze. The third was also an alicorn. It had a gunmetal gray coloured coat, with blue eyes, and a mane and tail that was a combination of red and orange.

"Sempta die, my lord," a voice said from next to Venatio. Looking over, he saw Sergeant Tycho kneeling next to him.

"Rise sergeant," Venatio said and Tycho stoood up. "Report."

"The hostile xenos have retreated after sustaining heavy casualties, and I doubt that they will be able to mount another attack. Also... Scout Sergeant Ckrius defied your orders and ordered his squad to take out the mortars."

"Good... take a detail and burn the bodies of the griffons. Have the rest of the men prepare for prayers, I will be leading them. Also... have Scout Sergeant Ckrius prepared for the Blood Rites, I will begin implantation shortly."

"Yes my lord," Sergeant Tycho replied as he turned to walk away. Looking back at the three ponies he sniffed the air. The white one smelled faintly of Fireflowers and the royal blue one smelled like his homeplanet Luna. Venatio felt a smile tug at the corner of his lips but he forced himself to maintain his neutral face. It was the smell of the last one that intruged him the most. While the royal blue did have the scent of human on her, it was not coming from her. Instead it came from the last one.

"In the name of the Emperor and Holy Terra, identify yourselves," Venatio said, staring at the half-breed human for several moments before tearing his gaze from him and towards the others.

"I am Princess Celestia and this is my sister, Princess Luna and Flamingsteel. What are you and why are you here?" the white alicorn asked as she took a step forward.

"I am High Priest Venatio, Chaplain of the First Company and Chief Medical Officer of the Luna Wolves Legion. I was sent her by Lord Aleksander, the Legiones Commanding Officer, to establish a Forward Operating Base and to set up diplomatic relations with the nations leaders," Venatio knew that Lord Aleksander had no intention of maintaining an actual lasting diplomatic relationship. He would attack either the griffons or the equines and place false evidense at the sight to suggest the other race had done it. Then, he would pledge support to one of the two groups, wait until the war had ended, and then kill both sides, keeping the survivors as slaves. It was a common enough tactic used by many human commanders when quelling rebellios planets. "As for what I am... I think your half-breed human can tell you what species I used to belong to."

The equines eye's widened and they both looked at their third companion. The third alicorn looked at Venatio, eyes furrowed in confusion and then in surprise, as if he had forgotten he had been a human once.

"What do you mean you used to, and how the hell did you know I was a human?"

"The Adept Angelus are no longer considered human, we are the same genus but diferent species." Venatio said as he heard the smack of a fist on an armour plate. "As for how I knew you were human... your smell gave you away. Yes sergeant?" Venatio asked as he turned to see Sergeant Tycho kneeling in next to him again.

"The squads are ready and are waiting for you, my lord."

"Very well, I shall be there in a moment," Venatio told the sergeant before turning towards the three alicorns. "I must sincerly apologize for this. This shall not take long and if you wish, the three of you, and any others, may observe or attend," Venatio said with a slight bow and he walked away. Venatio walked through the equine's small town. All of the buildings were made out of primitive materials like wood and clay. They were nothing like the works of art on Luna. In fact, Venatio would bet  
that his armor was of more artistic value of these equines. Didn't these ponies know that to truly make something yours, you would have to make it into a work of art? Venatio had to remind himself that these equines were of a different species and that they were from two seperate galaxies.

But there was one building that Venatio considered a work of art. It was a building that had been carved out of a still living tree. Venatio was amazed and wondered how the architect had done such a feat without killing the tree. After studying the building for several minutes, Venatio walked towards the center of the town, following the scent of his brothers. As he turned a corner he saw two ponies standing on the side of the street.

"See Bon Bon! Human do exist, and they have hands!" the mint colored unicorn exlaimed as she jumped up and down. Venatio ignored the two equines and continued down he street. Upon entering the center of the town, Venatio saw twenty eight of his men standing in three even rows in front of what he assumed was the town's town hall. There were only two missing from the formation was the scout who was in critical condition, and scout sergeant Ckrius who was preparing for his ascension from Scout and into the Brotherhood.

"Today is a day of joy!" Venatio said as he walked up the steps of the town hall. As he turned around, the midafternoon sunlight hit his armour at just the right angle and the bone white armour glistened and sparkled. Prayers that had been etched into the armour, glowed in stark contrast. The effect was completely intentional and Venatio heard the collective gasp of awe from the equines. "For today we have been offered the chance to bring the Emperor's light into the darkness and to destroy those who  
stand in the way of His servants. Over the last thirteen thousand years of war, many of our brothers have died, but we know that they have not died in vain. They will take their place at His side and tell tales of their bravery and valour and honour until the end of days." Venatio took a moment to look each of the marines in the eyes before continuing.

"Kneel! And let us pray!" Venatio bellowed and the order was instantly obeyed, the sound of twenty eight armored knees smaking into the ground. Venatio was aware of several of the equines flinch at his sudden aggrsiveness. Standing at he front of the large crowd of equines was the three equines he had met earlier. But standing next to Princess Celestia was Twilight Sparkle who still wore the cloak the scout had given her. Venatio's eyes widened, she wasn't upposed to be conscious much less up  
and walking around.

"God-Emperor of Mankind; We, your humble servants, offer our thanks to you for this new day. As we steer our might towards honourable battle, we rejoice in the oppurtunity to use our skills and strengths in your name. For this, we give our thanks, and ask for nothing, save the chance to serve. Others ask for money, or gold, or other possesions of material value, but for the Adept Angelus, service is enough. To serve in your name, is payment enough. This, we pray in your name. "

Venatio took out a golden chalice from a small bag that humg frm his belt. Stepping down from the steps of town hall, the marines began to take off their left gloves. As he approached the first marine, Sergeant Tycho pulled out his combat knife and held his left hand over the chalice. In one smooth motion, Sergeant Tycho cut the palm of his hand with the knife, bleeding into it. Each marine would do the same as Venatio walked up to him, slowly filling the chalice. As soon as the chalice was filled with their blood, Venatio did the same and walked up to the four equines at the front of the crowd. Venatio kneeled it front of Twilight and tried his best to look her eye to eye, but even kneeling down on one knee he was still a good four feet taller than her.

"You should be asleep and in bed for at least a week," Venatio whispered. Twilight just looked up at him and shrugged. Venatio could see that she was starting to have the 'thousand yard stare.' "After the ceremony, you will have a full twenty four hours of sleep, uninterupted. No arguments, doctor's orders." Venatio stood up and held the blood filled chalice high above his head for all to see.

"Today marks a historic day for both our races!" Venatio boomed to the crowd of ponies in front of him. "But without one of your kind in particular, me and my men would still be wandering aimlessly through the mountains far to the south. I would wish to recognize her and invoke an ancient ritual of debt, our Blood Debt. Miss Twilight Sparkle, would you please step forward."

Twilight took several uncertain steps forward before Venatio kneeled in front of her again, the chalice held between them. Sparing a glance to the left, Venatio saw that everypony was watching them with extreme curiosity.

"Repeat after me;" Venatio told Twilight, "He that may fight..."

"He that may fight..." Twilight repeated.

"... heal him."

"... heal him." Twilight continued.

"He that may fight no more..."

"He that may fight no more..."

"... give him peace."

"... give him peace."

"But he that is dead.."

"But he that is dead..." Twilight replied. As they continued, a globule of the blood started to rise from the chalice.

"Take from him the emperor's due."

"Take from him the emperor's due."

"As we return the blood of our brothers to the living we connot truley die..."

"As we return the blood of our brothers to the living we connot truley die..." The globule of blood started to spin and take shape.

"And without death... pain loses its signifigance."

"And without death... pain loses its signifagance."

The blood fell back into the chalice to reveal a golen coin small enough to fit into Twilight's hoof. On the front of the coin was an image of a snarling white furred wolf, backdropped with the image of the moon. The outer edges were adorned with intricant engravings arrows and oakleaves. On the back of the coin was a portrait of Twilight Sparkle. To the horror of all the ponies present, Venatio brouht the chalice to his lips and drank from it. After taking a swallowing a mouthful of the blood, Venatio held out the chilice to Twilight. She stared at it for several seconds before realizing that he wanted her to drink it. Swallowing her fear and nervoisness, and she briefly forget about how tired she was, her horn glowed purple and the chalice was engulfed in a similar color as it was lifted from Venatio's hands. Taking a deep breath, Twilight threw back her head and took a drink.

Twilight's skin was enveloped in a tingling feeling and her head was sent spinning. The hot blood spilled down her throut,took a moment to taste it. It was warm, and tasted not unlike copper. Her stomach flipped and she almost threw up from her revulsion to the horrible taste. The ground before her spun before being sent into sharp focus. She could see every grain of dirt, every blade of grass. Her nose was assualted from so many smells that she had never noticed before, she could hear every word or breath that the ponies behind her said. The ground countinued to spin faster and faster and faster, until she couldn't tell the difference between the sky and the ground. Finally both dissapeared as she fell unconsciousness.

**A/N: I would like to thank Lord Curly for letting me use his OC Flamingsteel.**

**Anyways... yeah a little fast paced for the first two chapters of a fabric... but those of you who have read my other stories know that it'll slow down for a bit.**


	3. Chapter 3

Venatio stood over the bound body of Scout Sergeant Ckrius, the evening sunlight shining against his back, and the fresh scent of flowers blowing from the center of the field outside Ponyville. He could hear the sounds of the party behind him, but he knew that none of his men were enjoying themselves. The 'party' that a pink colored equine had thrown to welcome them to Ponyville/Equestria, was unlike the large gatherings on Luna where Marines would eat excessively, drink alcohol in amounts that would kill anyone else, and boast about their bravery and courage.

Turning his attention back to Ckrius, Venatio resumed the surgery. The young scout's eyes bulged, but he did not cry out. His body could not even twitch, since his limbs were tied down. Beneath the restraints, the scout's muscles spasmed and knotted, his body attempting to thrash out against the violence being done to it.

There was already a long scar running down the boy's chest, where his sternum had been cracked open, and a second heart inserted into the cavity below. There were a couple of tributary incisions slipping out of the scar, where the small ossaman organ and the large biscopea had been implanted with the extra heart. The extra heart would allow the future to be marine to function after his primary heart had been destroyed or failed; while the ossaman and biscopea organs were both developmental, flooding the body with hormones to encourage rapid growth and strengthening of the skeleton and musculature.

A thin jet of blood was spraying out of another slit in the scout's chest, and he seemed fixed on the crimson shower. There was barely controlled horror on his face as he waited for shock to dull the searing pain. But a complicated web of intravenous drips supplied him with a constant flow of stimulants, ensuring that he would not fall unconsious or even be able to forget the memories afterwards. These procedures would stick with him forever, he was becoming an Adept Angelus, and it was important that he should never forget what that meant.

The mechanical metal arms that augmented the surgical dexteriy of Venatio twitched and clicked as they worked inside the scout's flesh. The spray of blood had erupted as one of the main blood vessels to the primary was severed, and the Venatio cafefully inserted the tiny hameasalore organ into the line of the vessel. It was designed to monitor and control the make up of the scout's blood, particularly to ensure the other implants would recieve rich enough sustenance for proper development. Before reconnecting the blood vessel, the mechanical arms tugged the incision in the scout's chest a little wider. Another metal arm appeared from Venatio's backpack, carrying another large organ. The arm pushed the proteum organ through the chest, while another stitched it into place and then reconnected the artery again.

As he stiched the organ into the blood vessel he smelled the human-pony approach. Baring his abnormally large canines, he otherwise ignored the intruder. If asked why he disliked the human-pony Flamingsteel, Venatio wouldn't be able answer. It was just an odd feeling that he had whenever the alicorn was present.

"Hello half-breed," Venatio said lightheartedly.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" Flamingsteel asked as he sat down.

"Because, that is what you are, former human, part pony. It's your smell that gives you away. I can still smell the human scent wafting off of you," Venatio replied as the various metal arms withdrew from the scout's body and slipped back into place in his backpack. Venatio turned and walked up to the pony, leaving the gaping wound on the _scout's_ chest open to the air with blood pouring out of it. Up until that point, the scout had wanted nothing more than for his torturer to leave him in peace, but now that Venatio was leaving him half finished, his mind welled up with panic that he would simply bleed to death on the metal table.

In fact, it was very likely that he would bleed to death there and then. Many men did not make it past this section of the surgery. Venatio had deliberately left the wound open so that one of three things would now happen: the scout would bleed to death; his proteum organ would kick in and stop the blood flow, but his immune system would be too weakened by all the bodily trauma and he would die of infection- nothing would be done to prevent this; or the hameasalore organ would already provide the proteum organ with enough enriched blood necessary to help it heal the wound and prevent either too much blood loss or further infection. If even one organ didn't take root or would be enefficient, and he would die. Venatio would let him die to; if the organs didn't work, then the scout would be worthless.

"Isn't that a bit... unsanitary?" Flamingsteel asked as Venatio walked up to him.

"Yes... but if he can't survive this, he is unworthy of receiving the honour of becoming a full Adept Angelis."

"Venatio, Si vult quaerere Domini Alexandri præsidio," Sergeant Tycho said as he approached Venatio and Flamingsteel.

"Honor dimidia genus putas," Venatio replied.

"Da," Tycho replied as he nodded at Steel.

"Loquere Domine, quia necesse est saltem tres Alexander." Sergeant Tycho nodded before jogging back towards the town.

"How did you get to this world? The closest human colony is on Ursa Minoris, and that is a galaxy away," Venatio asked as he headed towards the town.

"How did _you_ get here?" Steel replied. Venatio laughed in response.

"Ah... a warrior _and_ smart; a rare combination indeed. Me and the legions arrived here aboard an Apocalypse class Battleship called the Armageddon."

"I came here after I died on Earth."

"You died... how are you here?" Venatio asked as the party came into view. The pink pony had really outdone herself. There were streamers and lights hanging from various building's roofs, music played from multiple speakers scattered around the party area. On the edge of the party were several tables covered with assorted sweets like cupcakes, punch, and others that you would find at an event such as the one Venatio now found himself in. Most of the Marines stood on the side lines, awkwardly watching the equines.

"It's complicated," Steel replied.

"I'll take your word for it half-breed," Venatio replied as he watched several Marines clear a space for sparring. Sparring was common at Marine celebrations. It was used to settle disputes and insults of honour, but it was also used for tests of strength and close combat skills The rules were simple, you could use anything but ranged weapons and you would fight until either the other side gave up or was beaten to unconsciousness.

"Come, I wish to challenge you at a game," Venatio told Steel as he headed towards the improvised sparring ring. "The rules are simple half-breed, we fight using close combat weapons until the other side gives up or is beaten into unconsciousness."

"Uhm..."

"If you decline this challenge, you will be seen as weak and without honour. No one will see you fit to inter your bones in the Celestial Towers on Luna," Venatio told Steel as he undid the clasps to his armor, revealing a midnight blue coloured skin-tight bodysuit. Before taking off his boots, Venatio pulled out the knife. Looking up, Venatio saw that a large crowd had formed around the square sparring ring. At the front was the royal blue equine princess. She said several words to Steel as Venatio neeled and faced the rising moon. It wasn't his homewold, but it still bathed the world with its holy light at night.

"May you watch over this battle, and may your will guide my hands and body. May you choose the strongest warrior as the victor. Thank you," Venatio prayed before standing up. Steel's horn glowed and a double bladed sword that was about the size of Venatio's knife.

"Boreí to fengári odi̱gós lepída sas pros ti̱n kardiá tou echthroú sas," Venatio told Steel.

"What?

"May the moon guide your blade towards your enemy's heart," Venatio explained. Then without warning, he lunged forward, his knife spinning in his hands. Steel barely had time to jump out of the way, a cut along his cheek and a trickle of blood roles out. Venatio grabbed Steel by his mane and slammed his head into the ground before throwing him across the ring. Unexpectedly, there was sudden pain across the the middle of his back and Steel was in front of him, throwing punches and kicks. The hits were no more than minor irritations, but it was the sword that was the most dangerous. Not paying much attention to Steel, Venatio was blinded by the bright light that suddenly flared from the half-breed's horn. As Venatio covered his sensitive eyes, he felt the cold steel slide across his chest as he spun away. Now enraged, Venatio let out a primal, wolf-like howl and charged the half-breed. Dropping his knife, Venatio fronted to the left and the half-breed; which he fell for. Spinning to the right, Venatio grabbed Steel by the throat and slammed him into the ground before kneeling him in the gut.

"I have been a warrior for over five thousand years," Venatio growled as he punched Steel in the face repeatedly. "I survived the Third War for Armageddon. By the age of eight, I had taken twenty nine skulls in combat." Venatio head butted Steel before biting his foreleg as he brought it up to his face.

"How old were you when you killed your fist man? Fifteen? No, I'd say more around nineteen or twenty," Venatio then threw Steel across the ring and slowly walked up to him. "Do you give up half-breed?"

"No.. never."

"Good... then not only do you have the skills but you have the spirit as well. I would be proud to fight alongside you. This match is over."

"But...?"

"You still haven't realized why I challenged you? I challenged you to see if you still held on to your human roots... and you have," Venatio told Steel as he picked up his knife. Starring at it for several seconds, Venatio tossed it at Steel. "Keep it... to last as long as you did is something that you should be proud of. You have earned yourself and your family a lot of honour."

Venatio turned and walked away, in the corner of his eye, he could see the royal blue princess rush towards the half-breed. Venatio couldn't bring himself to call the princess by her name. It just seemed so wrong to call a ruler of a nation by the name of his home world.

"My lord, Lord Aleksander has sent a message," Sergeant Tycho told Venatio as he placed his armor back on.

"Yes?"

"He sends his regards and says that he is sending the rest of the First Company, and the Second through Tenth companies and they should be here within the hour."

"Good... anything else?"

"... permission to speak freely my Lord?"

"Granted."

"I must inquire about your insistence not to just kill these xenos."

"Brother... the Emperor preached about tolerance towards all and not to senselessly kill all those who do not share in your beliefs. Leave such violence to the Lions Encarmine," Venatio replied.

"Yes my Lord... but it just seems so... I don't know how to put it..."

"Most of your brothers feel this way as well, but you are the first to put it to words."

"But I doubt yo..."

"To doubt what you are told is natural Tycho. It is the hallmark of a great warrior. But you are still young... one day you will see."

"Yes my Lord... thank you."

"That is what I am here for Tycho," Venatio replied before walking off. As he walked around the party, he saw that several Marines were conversing with several other golden armoured ponies.

"-verfree? What is that?" One of the Marines asked.

"It's the forest over there, but I'll tell you the story later," one of the armoured ponies said.

"I'll hold you to that promise," the Marine replied.

"Yeah... we can have a beer and I'll tell you all about it," the guard replied sarcastically.

"Beer?! Pah!" The Marine laughed and lightly slapped the pony on his back. "Beer is for women! We'll drain an entire barrel of Lunar Mead and you'll wake up with a hangover of the likes of continents colliding!"

Venatio depressed a smile at this and continued to walk . At the edge of the party was when he noticed a high pitched whining. It was too high for the pony's hearing range, but every one of the Marines recognized it and looked to the south. It was the sound of a AC-7A78Bravo, the sound of extraction, incoming reinforcements, fresh supplies, or close air support. As the transports came closer, another noise joined the first. This one was the low and lowd. Without warning, the growling slowly grew into screaming as a squadron of Orbital Space to Ground fighters flew overhead at Mach 90, breaking every single window and shaking all the buildings. The Orbital fighter craft was boxy in shape, with a square nose that was covered with six 606 millimeter cannons, under each W shape wing was 12 Hellstorm missiles, each one capable of leveling city blocks.

The transports, forty in total, were not much different from the Orbital fighters. They were were simply much larger and more heavily armored. Each one could carry fifty footballers Marines or eight Crusader tanks. Each aircraft was the grey and red colours of the Luna Wolves Legion.

"Brothers... form up at the southern field. We need to great our brothers," Venatio said into the radio.

* * *

Venatio stood at the southern edge of the town, his brothers standing in column formation behind him. The ponies, curious, had gathered behind the Marines. One rainbow named Pegasus in particular, flew in front of them and would make faces at them and various other things to break their bearing. But they had all spent nearly one hundred years of training just to become part of the brotherhood, ans each had fought in innumerable battles. So this xeno was nothing more than an annoyance.

The transports flared out and the landing gear deployed. Almost as soon as the transports hit the ground, the front cargo ramps lowered and the Marines and tanks disembarked. But for every company of one hundred Marines that departed the transports, there was a squad of Fenrisian Wolves.

"Welcome brothers... brothers of the fang."


	4. Chapter 4

"Welcome captain, please, make yourself comfortable," Venatio told the First Company's Senior Ranking Officer. As the two made their way away from the transports the companies disembarked, unloading one thousand Marines and their support equipment onto the field, several tanks rumbled by and stopped just in front of the town where a crowd of equines had gathered. The tanks' main turrets swung around and aimed in the general direction of the crowd. Having already seen what their smaller weapons could do, the ponies started backing up.

"What can you tell me of these... xenos?" The captain asked. While Venatio did, as the Chief Medical Officer of the legion, outrank the captain. Combat tactics weren't Venatio's area of expertise, so he left that to more qualified Marines, like the captain. But he had been known to step in and take over command if he saw a need to do so.

"I haven't had much opportunity to study them thoroughly, but I can tell you this. They are primitive yet resourceful, they can fight but are afraid to do so, and are led by a socialist diarchy. Their leaders are two alicorns, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."

"Luna! That's-"

"Don't brother. Please," Venatio interrupted. The captain sighed and growled through clenched teeth. As they continued to walk, a normal human. A girl no more than eight years old ran towards the two, while a large wolf that was almost twice her height ran beside her. The girl had raven colored hair, green eyes, and the palest skin Venatio had ever seen.

"My Lord... Lord Aleksander wished for us to bring you your wolf," the girl said as she bowed in front of the two Marines.

"Thank you Micri Spathi," Venatio replied, calling the girl by his affectionate nickname for her. In response the girl hugged Venatio's leg. "Bellator, Veni!" he called out to the wolf. The wolf turned and trotted after the group of three.

"So... anything else other than you deciding to let the xenos live," the captain said as they continued to walk.

"No captain... well there is one thing... there is a human here by the name of Flamingsteel. He... was here for several years before us... and he's a pony know," Venatio replied.

"What?!" The captain yelled.

"You heard me Captain," Venatio replied as he pulled a small slice of salted raw meat from his belt. "Bellator! Lorem manducare, et bibere, Spathi."

The large wolf cocked his head to the left and then raced off. The captain and Venatio continued to walk in silence. The party had long since died out but the ponies remained. Though Venatio could no longer smell the scents of the moon princess and Flamingsteel. But he did smell several other of the equines nearby. The moon continued to rise through the sky, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and Venatio could see the Orbital Strike Fighters flying in a circle around the town and field.

"My Lord?" The child asked as Venatio saw Princess Celestia trotting towards the trio.

"Yes Spathi?" he replied as he bent down, picked her up, and placed her over his shoulder.

"Why are we letting these xenos live father?"

"I'm afraid I cannot answer that question fully little one, but I have a feeling that they will be needed in the future."

The group fell into silence as they continued to walk through the streets. Suddenly remembering about Twilight Sparkle, Venatio turned and headed towards the literal tree house that a white pony with light purple hair had told him she lived at. As the trio made their way towards the tree house, they turned a corner to see Venatio's wolf, Bellator, laying on his back at the hooves of a butterscotch colored pegasus with a pink coloured mane and tail.

"Bellator! Siste, et veni huc!" Venatio called out. Bellator instantly looked up, rolled over onto his stomach, and ran over to the group. Walking up to the equine, Venatio kneeled in front of the equine as it tried to hide behind its mane.

"I apologize if Bellator caused any harm or damage," Venatio told the mare before continuing towards the tree house. Venatio squeezed through the doorway of the library, nearly breaking it. The ceiling was low enough so that Venatio and the captain had to crouch slightly. As the captain removed his helmet and shook his white hair loose, Venatio glanced around. The walls were covered with bookshelves which were in turn covered with books. Princess Celestia, Luna, the half-breed Flamingsteel, and a mare with a purple mane, all sat around the fireplace. As the three people and the wolf entered the library, the four ponies looked up and Celestia scowled.

"What did you do?" the princess growled as she stormed across the room towards Venatio. Before any of them could say or do anything, the captain had grabbed the princess, drew his pistol and had her against a bookshelf on the other side of the room with the pistol pressed against her temple.

"You insolent xeno! How dare you speak to a High Priest of the Luna Wolves in such a way!" the captain hissed. Celestia's horn started to glow but the captain let go of her throught only to hold her by her long horn.

"Captain," Venatio said as the others started to respond. But Venatio ignored them, he had confirmed that they were of no danger.

"Captain!" Venatio said again when he didn't respond.

"Arek!" Venatio yelled, shaking the building. Surprised that Venatio had used his first name, the Captain let go of the princess.

"I told you not to harm them!" Venatio continued.

"I apologize my lord," Arek replied as he bowed his head in shame. "I will undergo any form of penance you wish."

"Four months of fasting and prayers. Now leave," Venatio told him as he stepped forward to help Celestia up. She wasn't majorly harmed, but she would have a slight bruise around her throught.

"I must once again apologize for my companion. But before you continue with your previous questions, allow me to make introductions," Venatio said before any of them could say anything. "Princesses... and others," Venatio said as he nodded at Steel and the white mare with the purple mane and tail. "This is Bellator, my companion and pet."

The wolf looked up at the mention of his name, but then went back to sleep at Luna's hooves when he realized nothing major was happening.

"... and this is my daughter by adoption, Spathi." After the introductions the entire fell into silence with Celestia glaring at Venatio.

* * *

At first, Rarity had considered reading a book to pass the time, but she thought better of it. She did not think that the Princesses would appreciate her romance novels as much as she did. Finally out of boredom, her eyes turned to the Marine. Immediately, her fashion-sense switched on and she began examining their armour with an experienced eye. _They may be killers,_ she thought. _But at_least_ they know how to dress well._

Upon closer examination, Rarity found a greater appreciation for the Marine's armour. The white plates almost appeared to be works of art. The golden shoulder pad certainly added a flare to his armour; Though Venatio should change his red shoulder pad. But the rest of his armor was adorned with writing that she could not understand.

"My, you Marines have absolutely magnificent armour." The words slipped out of Rarity's mouth without warning, drawing the looks of everyone in the room.

Thankfully, Venatio appeared to appreciate the compliment. Everypony breathed a sigh of relief.

"Have you ever considered making some…alterations?" Rarity continued, a hopeful smile on her face.

"I add prayer badges to my armour after successful campaigns. Most of these symbols proclaim acts of bravery or heroism."

"No no no," Rarity said, shaking her head. "What I meant is would you ever change the overall design? New colours, patterns?"

"Alter my armour? I would never consider such a thing," Venatio replied, sounded slightly surprised that the unicorn would suggest such a thing. "These components come from many of the legions greatest heroes."

"Well, I certainly wouldn't wish to do anything drastic," Rarity said. "But I do think that you could do so much more with your wardrobe. So many new colours you could try!"

Listening to the Marine Priest and the fashionista unicorn debating style relaxed the atmosphere significantly. Luna sat down next to Flamingsteel and began talking. Eventually the two somehow ended up chatting about nocturnal animals. The wolf, Bellator, which was about an inch taller than Luna, continued to lay at her hooves and eventually rolled over onto his back and whined. Bellator continued to whine until Luna gave him what he wanted... which was a stomach rub.

Then, one by one, the ponies fell silent when a lavender coloured unicorn made her way down the stairs, with one hoof rubbing her eyes. Venatio was instantly by her side and had a light shining in her eyes.

"What are yo-" Luna began but Venatio stopped her with a glare that would make a werewolf cry.

"Good morning Twilight Sparkle, how are you feeling?" Venatio asked.

"Tired," Twilight replied with a yawn.

"That's to be expected. Now please have your eyes follow my finger without moving your head." Venatio held up his forefinger and moved it from side to side and up and down. She didn't have damage to her optical nerves and her pupils were dilateing within normal standards.

"Would you please open your mouth," Venatio told Twilight. As she did so, he gently took hold of her jaw. Shining his light into her mouth, Venatio concentrated on the teeth. The canines were sharper, but not obviously so. Letting go of her face, Venatio checked Twilight's ears, they were slightly more pointed, but other than that there were no major changes. Hearing Steel take a breath to say something but was interrupted by Venatio.

"Now... I don't think I had the chance to explain what this was," he said as he held up the golden coin. There was now a chain made from twenty-four carat gold hanging from the top of the coin. "This coin is very special. Show it to any Marine from the Luna Wolves Legion and they will do anything for you, even die. Or you can bleed on it, and I WILL find you."

"But why are you giving it to me?"

"Because, we would still be wandering the mountains without you." Standing up Venatio looked at the half-breed. "Now I have not forgotten you."

"Based on your speech patterns and various other things, I have determined that you would have come from the world of Fenrisia." The half-breed and every other pony looked at Venatio with confusion. "On Fenrisia, it is normal for a boy, at the age of eight, to go into the frozen wastes to tame a wolf pup. But you..."

"Where are you going with this?" the half-breed asked, but Venatio ignored the question.

"You do not have a wolf pup that you called your own... and so..." Venatio turned to Bellator. "Bellator, Sequere Flamingsteel, nunc te curaturum.. I am turning Bellator over to you. Take care of him. Oh, and learn the language. He understands english, but he'll respond better to Fenrisian."

Then without a word, and before any of them could say anything, Venatio pulled out a holographic data-pad and tossed it onto the table before walking out. Placing his helmet on, he saw that Lord Aleksander had tried to contact him several times. Venatio opened a radio channel as he made his way towards the camp.

"My Lord," Venatio said as Lord Aleksander's face appeared.

"Venatio, status update."

"Noncritical, the relationship with the equine xenos is shaky but I guess that political relationships will be firmly established within two years."

"Not good enough... there is a town about four hours away by foot... I'll have a biker team meet you there with the bodies of griffins. I'll deploy another ten companies to assist. Also... be on your highest alert... Subject Zero has escaped."

At the mention of Subject Zero, Venatio's eyes widened with absolute fear, is was bad... very very bad.


	5. Chapter 5

Venatio stood in front of the twelve captains, each one wearing plane grey armour. Their only indication that they were some of the legions finest warriors, was the black cloaks they wore over their armour and the golden swords that hung at their hips. Their was Captain Arek, commander of the First Company; Captain Ventris, commander of the Second Company; Captain Aphael, commander of the Third Company; Captain Prathios, Commander of the Fourth; all the way to the legendary Captain Lichtor, commander of the wolf squads.

"Captains, I have gathered you all together to discuss strategy," Venatio said as he motioned for Spathi to leave.

"Strategy? These xenos are so primitive that my wolf could probably make a better catapult then they can." Captain Ventris joked and the others chuckled.

"You may think that now, but we haven't seen them in a real fight, and that is dangerous because they know the land better than we do, Venatio told them as he pulled out a holo-card and pressed several buttons before laying it on the ground. After several seconds a holographic image of the town Ponyville and the vast majority of the eastern coast. The image had been generated based on scans from squadrons of Orbital Strike Fighters.

"Now... Lord Aleksander is growing impatient, so, he is invoking S.O.P protocol 12. Captain Lichtor, send a wolf squad here, you know what to do." Venatio told the infamous captain as he pointed to the area that was known to the ponies as Appleloosa. "Captain Ventris, take your company and deploy here," Venatio pointed to Manehatten. "Captain Arek, you and the Sixth Company will remain here to maintain the supply lines and make sure that they are maintained. Captain Prathios, I'm sending your company here," he pointed to Phillydelphia. "Captain Aphael, take your company here," Venatio pointed at Trottingham. "I will take the five remaining companies to their capital."

"But what of our reinforcements priest?" Prathios asked.

"Lord Aleksander is sending us another ten companies, bringing us to full battalion strength. But we will need to divert most of them to the west." Venatio looked at each of the captains before going on. They all trusted him completely, and sometimes he doubted if he deserved that trust, but he quickly shook that thought from his mind. "Dismissed."

As the Captains left to prepare their companies for departure, Venatio picked up the holo-card and looked up towards the sky. The sun was starting to rise, banishing the night's shadows as it rose. Venatio shook his head and blinked several times before cursing himself for not getting any sleep last night.

* * *

January 17, 945 of the 32nd Millennium

0356 / 1 week since arrival of human forces

Captain Lichtor watched the town through his Heads up Display. It wasn't very special, just scarily similar to Midwestern towns in the United States surfing the nineteenth century... or so his database told him. The town didn't have much in the ways of defense, only a small barracks and whatever the civilians had in personal defence armaments. Hearing a whine from behind him, Lichtor turned around to see Stella, one of his two black wolves. Being able to tame one black wolf was rare enough, but to tame two was almost unheard of.

"Don't worry, we will kill the xenos soon enough girl," he told the wolf as he petted her head. Looking at the rest of the squad, he smiled. His wasn't a normal squad, for instead of ten Marines, it had ten Fenrisian Wolves. Lichtor had always felt a special connection to the wolves of Fenrisia, and so after completing his training as a Scout, had been assigned to the Wolf Company. The wolven companies were reserved for those Marines that let their genetic flaw become more pronounced. Standing up, he whistled, getting the wolves' attention. With a series of hand signals and select words in Fenrisian, he motioned the wolves forward and towards the town.

They got there in no time at all, covering the mile of desert in under two minutes. The town was quiet, with no xenos patrolling. Their main problem was going to be the barracks. With no way to know just how many of the equine xenos were in the town and in the barracks, Lichtor would just have to improvise.

"Mane hic, et custodiat in tenebras," he told the pack of wolves, who cocked their heads to the left before racing off to find hiding spots around the town. Unsheathing the metal claws that hung from his gloves, he approached the gate to the barracks. The guard that was supposed to be watching it was asleep at his post and so, Lichtor flipped over the gate, landing silently despite his heavy armour. Raising his arm, he slit the pegasus pony's throught. Moving quickly, he made his way to each corner of the building, setting incendiary mines at each corner so that it looked like the guards had died in the fire. As he set the final mine, he heard the crunch of gravel and the smell of one of the ponies.

Turning around, he saw a unicorn approaching but the mare hadn't seen him yet. Rushing at her, Lichtor retracted the claws and pulled out his knife. In one smooth motion, he picked the mare up and had the knife at her throught.

"Make a sound and you'll be bleeding like a stuck pig understand?" Lichtor hissed and the armoured mare nodded slightly in response.

"Good, can you send a message to your main base of operations?"

Again the unicorn nodded.

"Good, tell them that this town is being attacked by griffins and you're being overwhelmed."

The unicorn's horn started to glow and then there was a bright flash. After the flash disappeared, Lichtor thanked the mare before slitting her throught, cutting so deep that it nearly took her head clean off.

"Surge, Occidite eos!" Lichtor yelled as he detonated the mines. The barracks were engulfed in flames as the echoes of the wolves howles sang through the streets. Walking through the burning building, Lichtor would stab any of the bodies he came across. After checking that the guards were all dead, he moved on to the town, where the wolves were having a field day. The ponies were running around in complete confusion as the wolves tore them to ribbons without mercy. The equines didn't know it but running away was making things worse because it would set off the wolves predator instincts and they would just go wild.

Blood was flowing in rivers and Captain Lichtor was basking in the bloodletting. It had been centuries since he had last faught and this sent adrenaline coursing through his veins. Reaching out, Lichtor grabbed a filly and held her above his head as he laughed and literally ripped her head clean off. It really had been to long. Grabbing another of the ponies, he held it in front of his face and watched its face twist in agony as he slowly slid his claws into its stomach. Stabbing down with his other hand he impaled a mare and listened to her screams of pain before tossing both of them away. Lichtor watched as Stella ripped out a point's throught before racing into a building and dragging out several cowering ponies and then ripped them to shreds.

But to his great sorrow, the slaughter was over almost as soon as it begun. With regret, he gathered up the wolves, fed them, and called the biker team that it was okay for them to move in to place the bodies of the griffins. Standing up, Lichtor called for the wolf pack and the ran off into the desert.

* * *

January 17, 945 of the 32nd Millennium

1100 / 1 week since arrival of human forces.

Canterlot

Venatio kneeled in the center of the courtyard of the castle. They had arrived in the city Canterlot not soon after receiving word from Captain Lichtor that the xenos town had been wiped out. The city of Canterlot was beautiful, but in a weird alien sort of way. It was extravagant, colourful, and full of the rich, much like Luna's cities. There were a lot of similarities between their two worlds, except that outside of Luna's cities was were the tribal gangs made their dwellings. The guards in charge of defending this place had kept their distance but watched them carefully. But the residents were downright hostile; that had changed after several stupid citizens had challenged them and Venatio put them in the hospital.

And so, the Captains had set up a schedule almost immediately, one company on patrol, another in reserve, and the rest doing nothing. It was after this that Venatio gathered three of the companies in the castle's courtyard, it was the anniversary of the Luna Wolves deployment to fight in the Third War for Armageddon and this required them to pray. Feeling a wave of dizziness roll over him, Venatio stood up only to fall over. He shook his head and stared at the sky as Marines rushed forward to see what was wrong.

* * *

March 10, 372 of the 28th Millennium

1300

Armageddon

Venatio stooped over the wounded Marine trying to remove the shrapnel from his stomach as he continued to cry out in pain. Blood was spurting high, and Venatio moved a mechanical arm to stem the spurting blood. The Marine continued to thrash about until finally falling the Marine's vitals, he found that he was dead. Moving on to the next table, Venatio found a normal with half his torso missing. Knowing that there was no way to save him, Venatio moved on to the next. And so it went for hours. After only a month the human forces had suffered over a billion casualties, it was a slaughter. But Venatio took consolation in the fact that for every one human that died, one hundred of the Horror forces were killed.

"Venatio!" a familiar voice called out.

"Captain Arek, what are you doing here?" Venatio asked as he turned around to see the first company's captain.

"I am here to bring you to the front. You are needed there."

"I am needed here captain."

"The situation is... dire. We need more medical officers on the frontline now. The xenos are going to be making a major push."

Venatio sighed and looked around the medical ward. There were only other eight medical technicians, most of them inexperienced.

"Let's go"

* * *

January 18, 945 of the 32nd Millennium

1435

Venatio woke up to the feeling of stone beneath him. Looking up, he saw Priest Mephiston, Chaplain of the Eighth Company, standing over him. The sun was now high in the sky and there were several clouds in the distance. Sitting up, Venatio found that his armour had been removed and placed neatly by his side.

"What... ah... what happened," Venatio asked as Mephiston handed him a flask of water.

"You passed out from lack of sleep my Lord," Mephiston replied.

"I know that. Tell me what I don't," Venatio replied as he took a sip of the water.

"Subject Zero has esca-"

"I know that to."

"Well... Captain Lichtor has reported in. He reports successful mission."

"Good, anything else?" Venatio replied as he heard the clopping of hooves on stone and the smell of the moon princess assaulted his nose.

"Captain Dephiston wants to see what their Royal Guard's response time is like, and suggests-"

"Granted, and dismissed," Venatio told Mephiston as he stood up to face the princess. After bowing to the princess, Venatio studied her.

"You want know something. It's personal. Probably having to do with the half-breed Flamingsteel. Am I right?"

"How did you-"

"Know? When you live amongst brothers who not only look similar to you, but are constantly wearing full body armour, you become very attuned to such things as body language. Now, you wish to ask something of me."

"Yes... do think it was wise to give your wolf to Flamingsteel?" the princess asked. Venatio sighed and sat down, leaning against the stone wall.

"Once, on a distant, far off planet, a very long time ago, there was a young boy. This young boy's father, a native to Fenrisia, had a wolf. The boy grew up in poverty, and was always hungry... but he was happy, he _was _happy. For the wolf was always there for him. And one day, Horrors attacked. The boy's entire family, his entire tribe was wiped out. The boy, with no options left, picked up a fallen sword. Side by side, the boy and wolf fought. The boy fought until the sword broke, and then he used a knife until that broke to. But the wolf was there for him. For every cut, every wound, the wolf was by the boy's side. The wolf could have left, oh the wolf could have left at any time... but she didn't, she stayed by the boy's side every moment. And when it was all over... the wolf continued to stay by his side. The wolf fed the boy, took care of the wounds.

"And so, the boy got on his knees and made the wolf a promise. He said ' Emperor be my witness, no matter what, NO MATTER WHAT! You shall never suffer like this ever again. I will take care of you until the day I die. And when I die, someone else will take my place," Venatio told the princess. By now, there were silent tears rolling down his cheeks.

"You were the boy..." the princess whispered.

"I was that boy; the wolf was Bellator. And I still have not fulfilled that promise... and I am dying... I'm growing old."

"Retire," the princess simply said.

"Retire? One does not simply retire from the Adept Angelis. You serve until the day you die. And I do not want to end up like Lord Aleksander. I want to die with a weapon in my hand and the Emperor's name on my lips. So promise me, promise me that the half-breed Flamingsteel will take care of that wolf, will treat it like a daughter... As I did... as my father did before me."

"I..."

"PROMISE ME!"

"I-I promise."


	6. Chapter 6

January 18, 945 of the 32nd Millennium

Canterlot

2347 / One week, five days since arrival of human forces

A candle flickered as a gust of wind blew through the large library. Sitting on the cold floor, Venatio turned another page of the book, reading intently and jotting down notes. Various different kinds of books surrounded Venatio, all in various states of being read. Across from Venatio sat Spathi, who sat with a bible in front of her and rosary beads in her hands.

"... And he shall... step-" Spathi said as she tried to quote scripture that was written in Fenrisian, a language she was still trying yo become fluent in.

"Walk." Venatio interrupted as he corrected her without looking up from the book in front of him.

"And he shall walk from his throne, and deliver us from the pain of living."

"Very good Spathi. You are getting better."

"Thank you father."

Venatio continued to read and would write down the occasional note. Everything he didn't write down, was sent to his helmet via several cybernetic implants. Hearing the sound of hooves on the stone floor, Venatio turned around to see the half-breed Flamingsteel trotting towards him.

"Half-breed," Venatio greeted, before going back to the book on physiology.

"You know this place is closed for the night right?" Flamingsteel replied as he walked up.

"Then you need to get better guards. I was able to sneak past them easily."

"You? Sneaky? You're half a ton of armor, how the hell can you be sneaky?"

"Because I trained as a Scout for one hundred and fifty eight years, nine months, three weeks, two days, twelve hours, and nineteen minutes. Those are skills that stick with you. Anyways, why are you here?" Venatio asked as he turned another page.

"What are_ you_ doing here?"

"... I'm a medical officer. What do you _think_ I'm doing?" Venatio replied with a raised eyebrow. "But why are you here, because I don't think you're here to make idle conversation."

"Armageddon... what is that place and why is it important?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because you've mentioned it on several occasions and you're men even more."

"Ah... Armageddon, is... was... a major factory world for the empire. There was a total of three wars, with countless skirmishes fought between these wars. Each one was fought between humans, and Horrors. Do you know what the Horrors are?"

"Nope."

"They are the aliens that drove us nearly to extinction. Anyways, as I was saying, there was a total of three wars, the second and third being the most important. In the third war, there were fifteen trillion casualties after only one year. For the Luna Wolves... it holds a special place in our hearts. You see, out of five hundred thousand of us sent there... only one thousand came out. It was the largest loss of Adept Angelus life in history..."

* * *

May 19, 369 of the 28thMillennium

Phentas, Capital of Armageddon

1243

Venatio turned and ran along the bottom of the trench, moving from wounded man to wounded man. The sound of automatic weapons fire, artillery, and tank cannons, all but drowned out any attempts of communication. And so, all attempts at communication were made with hand signals, or by yelling in the ear of another.

As Venatio ran down the defensive line, a huge six limbed, insect-like creature broke through the line. The creature was about nine and a half feet tall, which was about a foot taller than Venatio, with dark grey, leathery skin, and each arm ended with a three foot long blade that was surgically attached.

"For the Emperor!" Venatio cried as he charged and pulled out his pistol. Firing four times, Venatio blasted a huge hole in its chest as each bullet detonated.

"Sixty years of medical school, a thousand and a half years as an Adept Angelus, and three hundred forty six years of studying xenomorphology... And I _still _haven't seen everything," Venatio mumbled as to himself as he shot three more of the aliens.

"Well priest," the voice of Captain Arek grunted from behind Venatio. "Today is proving to be interesting."

"I don't see how it is any different from yesterday."

"Killjoy."

"I aim to please," Venatio replied as he swung around to shoot another of the creatures, but the pistol clicked empty and the bolt locked open. Without hesitation, Venatio chucked the pistol at the creature, before drawing his knife and charging. The alien swung its arms at Venatio but he ducked under and into, its reach. Shoving his knife into the creature's neck, Venatio grabbed one of its arms as he spun away. Yanking down and across, the arm was torn off. Reversing his grip on the blade arm, Venatio continued his spin and stabbed behind him, resulting in an alien scream of pain. Feeling a long and sharp limb slip between the crack of space of the thigh and pelvic armour plates, Venatio dropped onto his stomach, rolled over, and grabbed the alien's beak-like head and pulled towards his chest. There was a snapping sound as the alien's arms flailed about, trying, and failing to hit Venatio. With one final grunt of effort, he flexed and the head was torn free.

Standing up, Venatio brushed himself off and checked the wound the alien had given him. It was nothing major, just a flesh wound

As the alien's headless body twitched on the ground, Venatio looked around to see his brothers fighting and dying.

"Brothers!" he yelled, activating the armour's speaker system. "Brothers of the Fang! We can fight and die with honour! Or we can just die! The choice is up to us! We are outnumbered! And we are outgunned, so each of us must be an army in our own right!" he continued to yell as he climbed onto the top of a concrete bunker. "Each of us is capable of greatness! But each of you has to seize this greatness! For it shall not be handed to you! They say that out of a thousand men, none may be worthy to become Adept Angelus! But out of a thousand Adept Angelus, only one may be worthy to become a Lunar Wolf! Prove that you are worthy of being a Lunar Wolf, and seize your greatness!"

As Venatio continued to yell encouragement at his comrades, they were provoked into greater acts of bloodshed and carnage and bravery. But Venatio did not stop there, he continued to yell encouragement as they fought.

"The enemy thinks that he can already taste victory! But what he does not know is that this will be his last meal! The enemy has come to shed our blood, but what he does not know! Is that he will drown in his own!"

As the Horrors sent their troops in the millions, the Horror's forces were killed in the millions. The piles of bodies in front of the human defences grew so large, that they left the trenches and fought on piles over one hundred feet high. After the battle their were some reports, probably exaggerated, of piles over one thousand feet high. But the human forces were not without their own casualties. For every two hundred of the enemy that fell, a normal human soldier would die. And for every one hundred thousand of the enemy killed, an Adept Angelus died. But they fought on. For two months they fought. They killed billions of the enemy, and after two months, the Horror forces retreated.

Venatio watched as human soldiers poured gasoline over the piles of enemy bodies and lit them on fire. Checking his Heads up Display, Venatio checked the casualty statistics of his area. 4.23 billion normal human deaths, and 16.834 billion normal human injuries. 275,713 Adept Angelus deaths,with just as many injuries. Closing the report, Venatio sighed and removed his helmet.

"So many deaths... and for what... an unimportant factory world on the edge of Terran space," Captain Arek said as he walked up to Venatio, helmet held in his left hand.

"It is not our place to question the Emperor's will. We fight and die in His name," Venatio replied. The two Marines fell into silence as they watched the normal humans repair the defences.

"We're not children anymore Venatio," Captain Arek suddenly said, breaking the silence.

"I don't know about you, but I was never a child," Venatio replied.

"That's because you grew up in Venator est Luna. Now that's a hell hole if I ever saw one."

"And you grew up in Venator est Paradisium... you're a lucky bastard. How did you pass the Blood Trials anyways?"

"By killing anyone who got in my way."

"Isn't that what we all did? Because I know I did."

"Pretty much," Captain Arek replied,before they fell into silence again. Stepping down from the lookout tower, Venatio headed for the medical ward. The ward was filled with Adept Angelus and normal humans alike. They completely filled the ward, taking up every available space, there were some that were even laying on the floor,waiting for treatment, which Venatio was already administering.

"My lord," a voice said from behind him. Turning around, Venatio saw a human medical chief.

"Yes?"

"My lord, Lord Aleksander has left you and the captains a message," the human said with a bow. "He is ordering you and any able bodied Adept Angelus to evacuate. All wounded are to be left behind. They will hold the perimeter until the Armageddon can manoeuvre into position so that she may bombard the continent from orbit."

"And the walking wounded?" Venatio asked as his fists clenched in absolute fury.

"Lord Aleksander says that they are expendable and are to be treated as such."

"As the Emperor wills it," Venatio replied through clenched teeth.

"As the Emperor wills it."

* * *

January 18, 945 of the 32nd Millennium

Griffin Capitol city

0143 / One week since arrival of human forces

"Target leaving building, stand by."

"Standing by," the scout replied. Gripping the custom made crossbow, the scout stole a glance out of the window of the stone building. He saw the Griffin ambassador's carriage. There were two of the griffin version of the Equestrian Royal Guard pulling it, and based on the size, the scout assumed that there would be four more guards and the ambassador herself. Studying it more closely, he saw that the walls were thin and the arrows should penetrate the walls easily.

"Target sighted, preparing to engage."

"Understood. Free to fire."

The scout waited until the carriage was directly across from him. Popping up, he took aim and pulled the trigger. The arrow flew from the second floor window and went straight through the walls of the carriage, impaling the guard sitting to the left of the ambassador. Within less than half of a second, the drawstring was pulled back and a new crossbow bolt was ready. Within another three seconds, the other three guards were dead from crossbow bolts to their temples. As the other two guards tried to unhook themselves, the scout took careful aim, and pulled the trigger, hitting the ambassador in the left eye. Pulling the trigger again, the ambassador was hit behind the left ear, and then again in the throat. Shifting to the left, the scout fired twice more, killing the last two guards.

"Target eliminated. Moving to rendezvous point."

* * *

January 18, 945 of the 32nd Millennium

Canterlot

0145 / One week since arrival of human forces

Venatio watched as the half-breed Flamingsteel walked away. They hadn't talked about much, just about Armageddon and what had changed among the humans over the last thirty thousand years. He seemed unable to wrap his head around the fact that so much time had passed humanity but only a few years for Equestria. They had also discussed, though Flamingsteel had not been able to give a very satisfying answer, as to how magic worked.

"Flamingsteel... do you know what the lesson of our discussion on Armageddon was?"

"There was a lesson?" the half-breed asked as he turned around to look at Venatio.

"There is a lesson in virtually everything I say."

"Then what was it?"

"Only the strongest survive," Venatio said as he stood up, Spathi close behind him. "Because they are the only ones who will do anything to live. Only the strongest survive... because they are the only only ones who deserve to. That was the lesson. Good evening half-breed."

Venatio stood up and walked out of the library, Spathi following close behind.

"Oh... one more thing... ever heard of Appleloosa?"

"No." Venatio replied a little too quickly. Without another word, Venatio left, a book held in his left hand.

* * *

January 25, 945 of the 32nd Millennium

Canterlot

0934 / Two weeks since arrival of human forces

Venatio elbowed Steel in the face before sweeping his legs out from under him.

"Stop thinking about it and let your muscles take over," Venatio told Steel as the half breed tried to get up.

"You haven't even taught me anything yet. All you've done is beat the crap out of me and make us run up mountains," Steel replied.

"I have taught you a lot," Venatio replied, adopting a combat stance. For the last several days, Venatio had been training the guards to better standards after the griffins declared war on Equestria. After realizing that attacking the ponies wasn't getting the response they wanted. Venatio had the Marines attack the griffins. And so,after two days of hit and run tactics, and assassinating their ambassador, the griffins finally declared war on Equestria and any nation that supported them. And so Venatio, after Captain Dephiston has judged their Royal Guard to be inadequate for combat, had decided to take it on himself to train them.

"What? Not to sneak up on you?"

"See, you are learning. You," Venatio said as he pointed at a random guard. "Your turn."

The unicorn approached cautiously, before her horn glowed and she disappeared. Kicking out behind him, Venatio felt something hard make contact with his boot, followed by a grunt of pain. Turning around, Venatio grabbed the unicorn by the horn and rammed her head into the stone floor before punching her in the stomach.

"Break," Venatio said as he turned to walk away. "Meet at the base of the mountain in two hours."

Venatio turned and walked away from the group of two hundred guards. Walking toward the Wardog APC.

* * *

"Your task is simple."

"It's never simple," one of the guards muttered.

"This time it is. Get to the top of the mountain by nightfall without getting hit. If you don't, you sleep outside tonight. Any questions?" Venatio asked. One of the guards raised his hoof.

"Yes?"

"What do you mean, 'without getting hit?'"

At that moment, one of the two, four man sniper teams opened fire. Two of the guards fell, their faces covered with a pinkish paint that came from the stun round. The stun rounds were designed so that if a target was hit, it would pass out almost instantaneously; simulating death. Most of the guards stood and stared at their two comrades, not knowing what had happened. But several of them, Flamingsteel included, ran for cover. Venatio, on purpose, hadn't told them of the two scout sniper teams and the ten man squad of Marines that were scattered around the south side of the mountain. Again the sniper team opened fire, but this time, the other sniper team joined in, taking out another six guards. Finally realizing what was was happening, they made a run for cover.

Venatio watched as the guards slowly made it up the mountain. By the halfway point, only fifty remained. And that's when the infantry squad opened fire, hosing them down with automatic weapons fire. Knowing that they couldn't take them on, the remaining guards found a way around. None of the guards made it all the way up the mountain. Though the closest had been the Half-breed Flamingsteel. He had been able to get a hold of one of the sniper rifles from one of the scouts and had turned it on the others before it ran out of ammunition. The half-breed Flamingsteel had only a couple dozen yards of the mountaintop before one of the other Marines had fired a short burst of stun rounds,hitting Flamingsteel twice in the leg and once in the wing.

"Gather up your gear and let's go, sun's going to set soon," Venatio told the Marines as he stared up at the sky.

"What about the xenos, my lord?"

"I told them that they would sleep outside if they didn't make it to the top of the mountain... I meant it."

* * *

January 30, 945 of the 32nd Millennium

Canterlot

1324 / Two weeks, five days since arrival of human forces

Venatio watched the guards move through the city. Though the guards didn't know it, they were on an exercise, and being followed by a squad of scouts. The guards were oblivious to the scouts, and as they passed under the gate beneath Venatio, he dropped down, landing silently in front of the scouts. Motioning the scouts to follow him, Venatio followed the guards. Venatio and the four scouts followed the group all the way to their barracks. They stacked up on either side of the door, three on the left and two on the right. Nodding at the guard directly across from him, Venatio braces himself and watched as the scout kicked down the door. Rushing into the barracks, Venatio turned and moved to the left of the room. Their were approximately forty guards, all of them relaxing.

The second scout through moved to the right, and the third and fourth moved straight down the center.

"Good job guards. Because of the group that just came back and their lack of being on complete alert, we were able to find your camp and kill you all," Venatio told the Royal Guard ponies.

"But we weren't even on an exercise," one of the pegasai complained.

"And? When the griffins come knocking on your doors, do you think they'll care? And now that you are dead, I don't think you'll mind if we go running up the mountain."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: This comes pretty late, but I am wide awake. I'm taking a small chunk of time to explain a topic that's been on my mind for a while now.**

**I used to call myself a writer, because, well, I wrote. I wrote stories, I wrote essays, I wrote blogs. I wrote.**

**Now, I'm an author.**

**Why, you ask?**

**Well, a writer does just that: write. They write anything: essays, blogs, journals, articles...**

**I believe that the fundamental difference between an author and a writer is that an author creates worlds. Writers write. Authors tell stories, authors create worlds, authors use the pen and keyboard as their weapons in the fight against boredom and nothingness. They don't give up, whether people read or not. I mean, two of the stories I believe to be some of my best works have about 300 views, whereas one of the stories I hardly put any time into has over 4,000. Is that fair? Maybe not. But, no matter what, I am going to write for those stories. I am not going to stop, I am not going to falter. I will be here long after the show ends.**

**Why?**

**Because I have work to do.**

**And, by God, that work is going to be done.**

**This a quoted blog from a good man and author, IceboxFroggie. **

**I also have an important update. For those of you who know me, I've served in the Marine Corps for a while now. Well I have decided, since my contract is going to expire, to transfer to Reserves so I can further my education by going to college. I will still be posting regularly, but not as often as I used to.**

**Now... with that out of the way... on to the fanfic.**

February 1, 945 of the 32nd Millennium

Dodge Junction

1354 / Three weeks since arrival of human forces

"Taking fire!" one of the Marines cried. Arrows whistled past Venatio's head as the griffins continued to try and take control of the town. For the last three hours, Venatio, the two squads of Marines, thirty guards from Canterlot, and whatever the civilians could muster, had been fighting for the town.

"Hold the line! Evacuation is almost done!" Venatio called out over the radio. Hearing something ping off his shoulder pad, he turned around to see a griffin with a crossbow. Raising his pistol to fire, another griffin fired, hitting Venatio in the gap between his breast plate and helmet, severing several arteries in his neck. Staggering back, Venatio fired at the new griffin, taking its head off. Another arrow flew and hit Venatio in the left eye, blinding him. Venatio continued to slowly walk backwards until his back hit a wall. With his hand against the wound on his neck, he slid down, blood pouring through his fingers. Already, the left side of his armour was stained red with his blood.

Lazily looking up, Venatio saw a white equine with electric blue hair and golden armour standing over him, trying to help, but Venatio pushed him away.

"Tell... the moon princess..." Venatio whispered with a smile. "... I told you so."

With his left hand still held against his neck, Venatio reloaded his pistol, and fired down the streets.

They say that when you're dying, you see your life flash before your eyes. Or that the Emperor will come to you to bring you to the afterlife. But that did not happen to Venatio. For him, the sounds of combat grew distant, and the world before Venatio's remaining eye started to fade. Eventually, he felt someone, grab a hold of him, and start dragging him away.

* * *

8 hours earlier

* * *

Venatio walked through the hallways of the Canterlot Castle, six armoured Adept Angelus following close behind him. Each one wore armour that was blacker than the night sky. Instead of helmets, they had actual human skulls permanently grafted to the skin of their faces. They were the Death Guard, the most elite of the Luna Wolves Legion. Each of them had a Nemesis Halberd held diagonally across their chests, two swords that hung from their hips, eight knives, three pistols, and two rifles; they were literally walking tanks.

Approaching the doors to the throne room, Venatio threw open the golden doors and walked in, the Death Guard following close behind. Without moving his head, Venatio scanned the room. At the back of the room stood the two princesses, twenty royal guards of varying races, eight equine nobles, and three griffins.

"No weapons in the-" a guard said as she approached the group, sword out. The Death Guard would not have cared... or listened to the guard if she had approached with her weapon sheathed. But seeing the weapon and a potential threat to Venatio, they sprang into action. Cornelius, the leader of the squad, swung the halberd behind his back, brought it up and over his head, and slammed the bottom of the halberd into the ponies face sending her flying across the room. Upon seeing what had happened to their comrade, the rest of the Royal Guard rushed forward. Seeing the others, the Death Guard rushed forward. And in less than four seconds, all the guards were either unconscious or badly hurt.

Venatio held up a clenched fist, signaling for them to stop, which they did instantly, some stopping in mid-swing. With his index finger, Venatio made a circling motion with his hand. Returning their weapons to port arms, the Death Guard returned to their positions behind Venatio. Looking around the room, Venatio saw that the moon princess was gone.

Opening a secure communications channel with Cornelius, the leader of the squad of honor guards, he motioned to the xenos in front if him.

"Find the moon princess and make an example of her... But do not hurt her."

"Princess, run away, live to fight another day," Cornelius said in a sing-song tune as he pulled out his knife. Looking left and right, Cornelius tested the air. Sniffing, he looked up and then at the doors. Suddenly whirling around, he threw the knife. The knife spun, flying across the room until it sunk into the ground four feet from the west wall. As the Marines and ponies, looked at the area where the knife had landed, the moon princess materialized slightly to the left, a stunned look on her face.

"Mortem non futuis custodia," Cornelius growled, his voice a deep baritone.

"Cornelius is right, don't fuck with the Death Guard," Venatio told the group of ponies and griffins.

"Freaks," one unicorn whispered. The unicorn was milky white, with a blondish mane and tail, and bright blue eyes.

"Ah, you must be Prince Blueblood," Venatio said as he casually pulled out his pistol and pulled back on the charging lever, loading a live round into the chamber. "Tell me _prince_, do you know what kind of rounds this pistol fires?" Venatio asked as he slowly walked towards the prince.

"Um... no?" the prince said nervously as he glanced around. By now, Venatio was standing right in front of Blueblood.

"It fires a seventy-five calibre round that detonates after penetrating the target's flesh. It has a maximum range of two hundred metres, though most of the time you engage targets within fifty. Now tell me, do you know what would happen if you were shot in the head at point blank range from a seventy-five calibre bullet?" Venatio asked as he held the pistol's muzzle to the side of the unicorn's head.

"N-no..."

"I will tell you what would happen. The round will enter your temple, penetrate your skull, and detonate in the cerebral cortex of your brain, causing massive destruction. Your head would be removed from your body and scattered in a million tiny pieces in a three foot radius. Your death would be fast, but it would be the most painful experience of your pitiful life. Do you want that to happen?"

"N-n-no."

"Good, then never insult us, our honour, and the Luna Wolves Legion ever again," Venatio said as he stood up and looked at the ponies and three griffins. The ponies were absolutely terrified, but the griffins and princesses remained calm. Now that he had their complete, undivided attention, he did what he came to do.

Without giving anyone a chance to respond, he started speaking again. "I stand here before you, griffins and ponies, truthfully unafraid of the coming war. Why? Because I believe in something you do not? No. I stand here without fear because I remember. I remember that I am here not because of the path that lies before me... but because of the path that lies behind me. I remember that for seventeen thousand years, the human race has been at war. I remember that for seventeen thousand years, our enemies have sent their armies to annihilate us... and after seventeen millennia of war... I remember that which matters most... we are still here! So griffins... tell your leaders to think twice before attacking Equestria... for if you do... we humans will bring the sky itself crashing down on you. You will burn under the righteousness of the Emperor's fury. For we are the hammer, we are the right hand of the Emperor, the instrument of His will, the gauntlet about His fist, the tip of His spear, and the edge of His blade! We are Adept Angelus, and we shall know no fear!"_  
_

* * *

Venatio sat at the back of the room, bible in hand, and watching the squads of Adept Angelus. Venatio, two squads of Marines, and forty of the Sun and Moon Princess' Royal Guards had been respectfully asked to gather in the throne room. Venatio didn't know what they wanted or why or what was going on, but it was serious.

"So, a shooting war you think? A real one this time?" one of the Marines asked as he hefted his rifle. Each of their rifles were so large that they fired rounds so large that that were easily the size of one of the equine's abnormally large eyes.

"Maybe Verenor," the Marine's sergeant, Sergeant Brick, replied. "If the Emperor is smiling on us."

"Pray that he is. My stomach growls for a taste of actual combat." Verenor responded.

"Any word of the drop?" another marine asked.

"Probably just some worthless and petty errand the local planet's government wants us to carry out... like Algol."

"Algol... there wasn't even a scrap of glory and honour for us there."

"So eager to die?" Venatio said as he stood up and slowly walked towards the group. "Glory is a two edged blade."

"Are you shying away from combat my lord?" Verenor asked.

"Oh Verenor," Venatio said, "You novices are alike, and to think I'm the one who has to put you back together. It isn't combat I resent brother, it's the thirst for glory that gets men cut to ribbons... look at you... all so very fine, and I do not doubt the fire in your hearts... But you do not yet know war as I do."

"With respect priest, that is why we are here. We do not want to go back to Lord Aleksander empty handed." one of the other Marines replied.

"I know, just don't be in such a hurry... death will find you soon enough," Venatio told the group. "War isn't about glory, it's about victory!"

Venatio held up his fist and shook it as he said this. Walking back to where he had been sitting, Venatio hung the book on a hook attached to his belt.

"Brick... what kind of name is that anyway?" Venatio asked as he pointed at the sergeant.

"It's short for Ubrickulius, sir," the sergeant replied. At this most of the Marines tried to stifle laughter.

"Your mother must have been... um..." Venatio said as he tried to look for the right words. "Wise."

"She was a fuckin' comedian, that's what she was." At this all the Marines gave up at trying to stifle their laughter.

"Brick it is then," Venatio said with a smile. After several minutes of silence, the doors opened and Princess Celestia walked in.

"Attention on deck!" Sergeant Brick called out and the Marines snapped to attention while Venatio continued to sit on the crate of ammunition. The princess glanced at Venatio with a raised eyebrow, but he ignored it and stared back with an expressionless face. He didn't like the Celestia and neither did the other Marines. She smelled of Fireflower, which reminded him of Armageddon, a place he desperately wanted to forget. The princess was also weak, she was too relaxed, getting too close to the subjects which invited easier assassinations. She didn't rule with an iron fist, or in her case, an iron hoof, and that would let other nations think that they walk over her nation. She let her military become lax and probably the closest they got to actual combat was a 'war' that had happened about eight years ago and that essentially just a small number of skirmishes.

No, Venatio did not think she should be the ruler of a nation.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlecolts," the princess said as she stood at the front of the room.

"Good afternoon ma'am," the guards replied while the Marines remained silent.

"Earlier today, scouts along the border reported visuals of a large griffin force crossing the border near the town of Dodge Junction. We don't know how big the force is so we're sending what the humans call 'reconnaissance in force.' Any questions?"

"Why are the humans coming with us ma'am?"

"Because this is what you would call a joint exercise. To get used to each other's tactics and abilities." After several seconds of silence, Venatio and the Marines all stood up and walked out, expecting the guards to follow. They walked out of the castle, the guards rushing to keep up with their long and fast strides.

"Hey... can you slow down... you're going too fast," one of the guards asked.

"And, you're going too slow... your point?" Sergeant Brick replied.

"Jeez... you don't have to be a prick about it," the guard mumbled. At the front of the castle sat ten guad-bikes. The guad-bike was essentially just an engine block, guns, armour, and a control system welded together. It wasn't made to look good, just get from point A to point B and for the occasional dogfight if necessary.

"Two marines and two ponies per bike," Sergeant Brick said as he climbed aboard the quad-bike.

"How are we supposed to stay on if there's no hoofholds?"

"Then make one," Venatio replied as he got on behind Sergeant Brick. The ponies all climbed on, trying, and failing to get a hand-hold. Getting tired of waiting, Sergeant Brick turned around in his seat, grabbed one of the ponies, pulled out a roll of duct tape from a compartment on the bike, and simply taped the pony to the bike.

"There, you don't have to worry about it now," Sergeant Brick told the guard as he separated the process with another. Once the others saw this, they started laughing and moved to do the same.

"Hope you're not afraid of heights," Venatio told one of the guards as Sergeant Brick started the engine.

"What do you-AAAAAH!" the guard screamed as the bike jumped into the air and shot forward.

* * *

February 1, 945 of the 32nd Millennium

Near Dodge Junction

1254 / Three weeks since arrival of human forces

The quad-bike roared over the land, flying just above the ground. The ponies were scared out of their minds. Most of the pegasai didn't mind the extremely high speeds, but it was the other two races, the Earth ponies and Unicorns, that had the problem with the height and speed. Venatio took the thirty or so minutes to more thoroughly study them. Yes, physiology books were all well and good, but they didn't compare to an actual living specimen.

The Earth ponies had strong muscles and slightly more thicker bones, and they would probably pose the least amount of danger when the Marines actually forcibly took over. The pegasai had thinner, hollow bones, which allowed them to fly better and they would probably prove to be a nuisance. But it was the unicorns that interested Venatio the most. They had solid but weak bones, and a horn that allowed them to use 'magic.' There had to be a scientific explanation for the use of 'magic' and how it was tied to this world and not Terra.

But there was one thing that bothered him immensely. The pegasai's wing size to body mass ratio was so uneven that there should be no way that they should be able to get off the ground and not break the laws of aerodynamics. This world was frequently giving Venatio a headache that got worse every time something new and even more bizarre and inexplicable, then the last popped up. Giving up on trying to understand them for the time being, Venatio opened a window in his Heads up Display and blinked through several screens until he found what he wanted.

"Thank you Bellator," Venatio said with a smile. Screens from hidden cameras popped up before Venatio and he started to record everything they saw and transmitted all the footage to the Armageddon so the techs could go over them.

"Ten seconds," Sergeant Brick said as he banked the bike slightly to the left.

"Understood," Venatio and the others replied. As the bikes approached Dodge Junction, Venatio and the others prepared to drop. When the bikes stopped moving, Venatio cut the guards loose and then dropped down himself. Landing at the front of the group, Venatio checked the area ahead, rifle sweeping side to side. The area ahead was clear, so he motioned for the squad to move forward. Verenor took point and set a brisk pace, which the ponies were desperate to keep up. All thirty of the guards had dropped the ten feet to the ground without major injury. The quad-bikes the flew off and waited for either the signal for reinforcements or extraction. There was also two troop transports waiting fifteen minutes west of the Marines just in case they needed reinforcements, or to evacuate Dodge Junction.

Verenor held up a clenched fist, signaling for the mixed force to halt. Verenor signaled for Venatio to move up. Moving to Verenor's side, Venatio saw a large number of griffins and beyond them was the town.

"Two, maybe two hundred and fifty griffins," Verenor whispered. "Possibly another group of them to the south."

"Okay... what do suggest we do?" Venatio asked.

"My lord?"

"You're on point... it's your call."

"... send the guards around the enemy force to begin an evacuation of Dodge Junction, while we provide a distraction," Verenor replied before Venatio nodded and motioned behind him.

"Good... now tell them that."

Verenor nodded and sent a message to Sergeant Brick, with what he had told Venatio. Sergeant Brick, in turn, told this to the others. He ordered the Royal Guard to go around the force while the Adept Angelus would bulldoze right through the center and then hold them off while the guards evacuated Dodge Junction. Looking back at the others, the Royal Guard may not have had much combat experience, but they made up for that in spirit.

"What!?" exclaimed one of the guards. "There's only twenty of you and a couple hundred of them! That's suicide!"

"Yes... for them that is," Sergeant Brick replied. The Adept Angelus waited for three minutes to give them time to get to Dodge Junction. After exactly three minutes, the Marines stood up and simply started to walk down the hill. As the Marines walked down the hill, all of them unslung their rifles, and pulled back on the charging lever, loading a live round into the chamber before opening fire. The griffins, caught unawares, were slaughtered. They ran about trying to figure out what was happening as the Marines waded through their camp. Approaching Dodge Junction, Venatio ordered the Marines to take up defensive positions around the town.

* * *

Present time

"Taking fire!" one of the Marines cried. Arrows whistled past Venatio's head as the griffins continued to try and take control of the town. For the last three hours, Venatio, the two squads of Marines, thirty guards from Canterlot, and whatever the civilians could muster, had been fighting for the town.

"Hold the line! Evacuation is almost done!" Venatio called out over the radio. Hearing something ping off his shoulder pad, he turned around to see a griffin with a crossbow. Raising his pistol to fire, another griffin fired, hitting Venatio in the gap between his breast plate and helmet, severing several arteries in his neck. Staggering back, Venatio fired at the new griffin, taking its head off. Another arrow flew and hit Venatio in the left eye, blinding him. Venatio continued to slowly walk backwards until his back hit a wall. With his hand against the wound on his neck, he slid down, blood pouring through his fingers. Already, the left side of his armour was stained red with his blood.

Lazily looking up, Venatio saw a white equine with electric blue hair and golden armour standing over him, trying to help, but Venatio pushed him away.

"Tell... the moon princess..." Venatio whispered with a smile. "... I told you so."

With his left hand still held against his neck, Venatio reloaded his pistol, and fired down the streets.

They say that when you're dying, you see your life flash before your eyes. Or that the Emperor will come to you to bring you to the afterlife. But that did not happen to Venatio. For him, the sounds of combat grew distant, and the world before Venatio's remaining eye started to fade. Eventually, he felt someone, grab a hold of him, start dragging him away.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Just so you guys know just how massive the human's ship is, here's a size comparison to other Sc****ience Fiction ships.**

**Star Trek's Enterprise= One third of a mile long; crew: twelve thousand**

**Star Wars's Star Destoyer= Two thirds of a mile long; crew: one hundred thousand **

******Apocalypse class Battleship= Ten and a half mile long; crew: three million (not including Adept Angelus and normal human soldiers)**

February 1, 945 of the 32nd Millennium

Canterlot

1945 / Three weeks since arrival of human forces

"Come on! Wounded out first!" Sergeant Brick called out as he stood up, yanking on the chains that held a captured griffin. The cramped transport that was filled with the inhabitants of Dodge Junction, Royal Guard, and Adept Angelus. After they had completely evacuated Dodge Junction, they found that only twelve of the Royal Guard ponies survived, while High Priest Venatio in critical condition, and another three had minor wounds. "You better tell me what you know now, because if you don't... I'll let Sergeant Tycho torture you... and I don't think he'll be very happy that your forces killed two Adept Angelus, wounded three, and put his mentor in critical condition. For your sake, you should start praying to whatever _rancidulus_ gods you worship that the priest survives, haeritici."

"And if he doesn't?" the blindfolded griffin growled as Sergeant Brick dragged him down the ramp.

"If he doesn't, you'll have Adept Angelus lining up to torture you from here to the moon." Sergeant Brick stepped off the ramp and into the organised chaos of the landing pad. Normal humans ran back and forth, directing the uninjured into the city, while everyone else was directed towards triage stations. The humans scampered out of the way, trying not to get crushed by Sergeat Brick's boots. Several human soldiers, ancient M-18 rifles in their hands, approached the sergeantand bowed.

"My lord, the interragation chambers are ready as you requested."

"Good," was all Sergeant Brick said in reply.

"And for the record, what are the prisoners crimes my lord."

"Grand heresy of the first degree, 20 counts of an attempted killing of an Adept Angelus, twp counts of the killing of an Adept Angelus," Sergeant Brick turned and stared at the griffin. "Each of these crimes is punishible by death-"

"What are you going to do, kill me eighteen times?" the griffin interupted. One of the human soldiers smacked the griffin over the head with his rifle.

"Actually yes."

"The death sentence was banned in Equestria a long time ago."

"And? We're not from Equestria, we have our own rules, our own laws; and the death sentence is one of them."

* * *

July 13, 009 of the Thirtieth Millennium

Fenrisia, Mountain of the wolves

0500

Tycho was cold, everyone around around him was cold. Why did the Luna Wolves had to conduct their Blood Trials on an ice planet; why couldn't they hold it on a desert planet like the Lions Encarmine, or a jungle planet like the Rainbow Warriors?

"At the top of the mountain are fifty flags... there are two thousand of you. Get to the top in one piece, and still alive... and I will take you back to Luna for your training. There are many ways to die... and only a few to win," said a white armoured warrior who had identified himself as High Priest Venatio. "But I will give you one peice of advice and one only... if you see a Fenrisian Wolf... run."

After the white armoured warrior finished speaking, the group just stood there, waiting for something to happen. Looking left and right, Tycho studied the large group around him. Most of them were taller than him, and all of them were anywhere from six to ten years old, and all of them had a weapon of some kind. Some had knives, others had swords or spears, while only two or three had large wolves with them. Tycho had a millenia old Katana, made from old fashioned steel and iron.

They all stood and stared at the white armoured warrior, waiting for him to do or say something. But the warrior stared back, waiting. Suddenly, Tycho had an idea. There were two thousand candidates, and only fifty flags. Looking at the child to his right and then back down at the ground, Tycho unsheathed the Katana and slit the child's throat. Before anyone had a chance to react, he reversed his grip and impaled the child behind him. This caused a chain reaction that resulted in a bloodbath as the group started to fight and kill each other. As they faught, several hundred kids, Tycho included, ran for the snow covered mountain. Hearing a crack, followed by a dull thud, Tycho looked to his left to see a child no more than nine years old, laying in the snow, head completely missing. Instantly, he dove to the left and landed behind a large boulder. Tyecho knew what had happened. Back durring the qualifications, there had been snipers firing stun rounds, but is was clearly obvious that they were now using live rounds. Which meant that he no longer needed to be the strongest, or the fastest, but the smartest.

* * *

August 18, 034 of the Thirtieth Millenium

Adept Angelus training ground / Luna, Sea of Tranquility

1400

High Priest Venatio marched in front of three ranks of recruits, twenty in each rank, and they all wore grey tunics, loose grey pands, and black combat boots. All of the recruits were of varying ages, anywhere from twenty-five to thirty.

Venatio himself still wore the white armor of a medical officer, even though he was entitled to wair the sanquine red armour of a veteran, or even the gold armour of a priest, but he wore each colour on his shoulder pauldrons so no one mistook him for his actual rank.

"He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright." Venatio sang, singing a marching cadance that was older than the empire. "He checked off his equipment he made sure his pack was tight. He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar, you ain't gonna jump no more!"

"Glory, Glory, what a hell of a way to die!" the recruits sang back as they marched. "With your rifle in your left hand as you're fallin' through the sky! Glory, gloty, what a hell of away to die! And he ain't gonna jump no more!"

"Is everybody happy cried the sergeant looking up! Our hero feebly answered yes and then they stood him up! He jumped into the icy blast, his static line unhooked! And he ain't gonna jump no more!" Venatio continued to sing as they continued to march towards the proving grounds.

"Glory, Glory, what a hell of a way to die! He checked off his equipment he made sure his pack was tight. He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar, you ain't gonna jump no more!"

"He counted long he counted loud, he waited for the shock! He felt the wind, he felt the cold, he felt the awful drop! The silk from his reserves spilled out and wrapped around his legs! And he ain't gonna jump no more!"

"Glory, Glory, what a hell of a way to die! He checked off his equipment he made sure his pack was tight. He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar, you ain't gonna jump no more!"

"The risers swung around his neck, connectors craked his dome! Suspension lines were tied in knots around his skinny bones! The canopy became his shroud, he hurtled toward the ground! And he ain't gonna jump no more!"

"Glory, Glory, what a hell of a way to die! He checked off his equipment he made sure his pack was tight. He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar, you ain't gonna jump no more!"

"The days he lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind! He thought about the comrades back hime, the he left behind! He thought about the Medic Corps and wondered what they'd find! He ain't gonna jump no more!"

"Glory, Glory, what a hell of a way to die! He checked off his equipment he made sure his pack was tight. He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar, you ain't gonna jump no more!"

"He hit the ground the sound was splat, his blood was spurting high! His brothers were heard to say, what a hell of a way to die He lay there in a welter of his gore! He ain't gonna jump no more!"

"Glory, Glory, what a hell of a way to die! He checked off his equipment he made sure his pack was tight. He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar, you ain't gonna jump no more!"

Venatio sang the next verse slowly, almost solemnly, "There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon the chute! Intestines were a-danling from his paratrooper suit! He was a mess, they picked him up and poured him from his boots! And he ain't gonna jump no more!"

* * *

February 1, 945 of the 31st Millenium

Canterlot/ Equestria

2234/ three weeks since arrival of human forces

"Get out of the way," Leonidas, the medical officer of the Seventh Company, growled at the ponies in the hospital while baring his fangs. Ponies scrambled out of the way, trying not to get stepped on as two more Adept Angelus carried High Priest Venatio between them. The bleeding from his neck had stopped, thanks to the Proteum organ, and Venatio would probably survive. Leonidas had seen Marines with half their face blown off get up and fight.

Leonidas watched as the two marines set Priest Venatio on the floor before leaving the room. Releasing the clasps to Venatio's chest plate and shoulder pauldrons, Leonidas shook his head.

"Should've worn a helmet. You know better Venatio," he whispered as he removed Leonidas removed his helmet at shook his long white hair free. The white hair was one of the several genetic flaws in the legion. When they first received their genetic augmentations and organs, Adept Angelus of their legion would develop wolf-like teeth, long white hair, and when aggravated enough, would go completely beserk and kill everything in their path.

A mechanical arm tipped with a razor, unfolded from Leonidas's pack. It descended and shaved off Venatio's eyebrow before retreating back into his pack. Another replaced the first, this one tipped with a scalpel, and cut a perfect square around Venatio's left eye. Leonidas peeled away the skin, eyelid and everything, to reveal Venatio's destroyed left eye. Running his left glove over the side of Venatio's head, Leonidas scanned the head.

A blue, holographic image of Venatio's skull and brain was projected in front of Leonidas. The skull itself was undamaged, but the pars opercolaris of the inferior frontal gyras was slightly damaged by the arrowhead, as was the primary motor cortex. While he could remove the arrowhead without difficulty, there were several small slivers of wood that had broken off and had imbedded themselves deep within the motor cortex. The damage to the pars opercolaris was temporary, Leonidas would not be able to remove the slivers of wood. With a deep sigh, Leonidas went to work.

* * *

August 20, 034 of the Thirtieth Millenium  
Adept Angelus Training Ground/ Luna  
1847

Venatio watched as twenty recruits aproached the Killing Town, rifles at the ready. The Killing Town was a small mock-up of a town. It had ten wooden buildings of varying sizes. The recruits would have to clear the the town, and fight off an unkown number of instructors. They were given ancient rifles that fired a 7.62 caliber stun round, while the instructors had live rounds. As the recruits approached the Killing town, they split up into four groups of five, each group heading toward a different building.

The recruits stacked up at their repective buildings, and then blew in the doors. As they each entered the building there was the report of automatic weapons discharging. After a full twenty seconds, each team exited the buildings, and moved on to the next.

It didn't take long for the recruits to clear the townn, and surprisingly there were no casualties, not a single one was killed. This was a feat that they should be proud of, and proud they were.

* * *

February 1, 945 of the Thirty-first Millenium  
Canterlot/ Equestria  
1356 / three weeks since arrival of human forces

Sergeant Tycho stood over the bound body of the captured griffin, knife in hand. Standing behind Tycho was Princess Celestia and the moon princess. Tycho, nor could most of the other Adept Angelus, himself to call her by her name. It was heretical that the pony should be named after his homeplanet, much less still be alive for such heresy. And then there was the half-breed Flamingsteel. Every single human tolerated him at the least, though most outright hated him. Then there was the bastard child of the two. Tycho had seen the... thing on several occasions but only for several seconds. Their child was no better than a mutant, and mutants were executed on sight in the Terran Empire.

Hearing footsteps, Tycho turned around to see two Death Guard making their way towards the grey and red prefabricated building. Tycho bowed to the two even though he technically outranked them. It was usually best not to anger the Death Guard, for they were the Legion's best, and most experienced. A squad of twelve could go against a battalion of two thousand Adept Angelus and probably win. They were also the most loyal troops that Tycho had ever seen; if it benefited the Empire, they would kill themselves if commanded.

"Nos hic dictat quod Sanguis Foederis observare cruciatu supplicio uinctus iterragatio," the one to the left said, his voice deep and menacing. Tycho nodded and turned around.

"Prepare for hell griffon... for that is where you are," Tycho said as he approached the griffin.

* * *

February 4, 945 of the Thirty-first Millenium  
Canterlot/ Equestria  
0600/ Three weeks, four days since arrival of human forces

Venatio opened his eyes, blinking away the pain in his eye from the bright light. Frowning, he reached up to remove whatever was covering his left eye, but there was nothing there. He couldn't see anything with his left eye. There wasn't darkness, becausedarkness would mean that his optical nerve was receiving information from the rods and cones in his eye, but there was nothing. No light, no darkness, no color... nothing.

Looking around the room with his remaining eye. He saw that he was laying naked on the cold, hard floor, a crushed table across from him. The walls were a dull cream color, and there was a window that opened up to whatever was outside. There was an IV sticking out of his right arm. He tried to reach over to remove the IV but all he could do was get his fingers to twitch. Leaning over, he yanked out the IV with his teeth. As he did this, he saw a white armoured Medical Officer enter the room.

"Damn fucking tiny doors," the marine complained as he squezed through the door. "Why couldn't we crash on a Yautja planet. At least they have the comman courtesy to have large doors. Ah... Priest Venatio, my lord... you're awake."

"My kriffing head feels like it's been turned inside out, beaten with a C'tan's tusk, and then stuffed back in," Venatio told the marine. "I'm guessing that I have damage to the motor cortex, pars opercolaris, and some nerve damage."

"How...?" The medical officer started.

"I'm the Chief Medical Officer... I could perform brain surgery blindfolded using only my teeth and a scalpel," Venatio chukled.

"Well... the only thing keeping you here was you sleeping," the marine stated.

"Then let's go... and please, update me on the situation," Venatio said as he stood up. Laying in a corner was a black skintight bodysuit. Walking up to it, Venatio slipped into it. "My daughter?"

"Staying with the equine princess, Twilight Sparkle. Also, the griffins have been attacking the southernmost cities, all unsuccesful."

"Good," Venatio replied as he squeezed out of the room. "Anything else?"

"Nothing major my lord."

"Can you please send a message to Sergeant Tycho. Tell him to gather the princesses, the pony's top scientests and military advisers, in the briefing room."

"Yes my lord. Right away."

* * *

**30 minutes later**

* * *

Venatio stood at the front of the briefing room, waiting for the ponies. The briefing room had white walls, white floors, and a white ceiling. It was a ready-made structure they had set up outside the city of Canterlot, and could easily seat fifty fully armed and armoured Adept Angelus.

Venatio looked at himself in the window. He wore a bright white, sleeveless robe over his black bodysuit. The robe had gold and blood red highlights running along the edges. On the back was the image of a wolf's head superimposed over a serpeant curled around a staff, signifying his Chief Medical Officer rank and what legion he belonged to, and ceremonial sword made from Conerseptium, hung from his waist. There was a scar of a perfect square surrounding his left eye. The eye itself was empty, just a blank space.

Hearing the door hiss open, followed by the clopping of hooves on the tiled floor, Venatio smelled Princess Celestia, the moon princess, and the half-breed enter the room.

"Do you realize that you cannot command us back and forth like sev-" Princess Celestia was never able to finish her sentance, for in the blink of an eye, Venatio had crossed the thirty feet that seperated them and drew the sword. He pressed the tip of it against her throat, a drop of blood falling to the floor.

"Shut... up," Venatio growled. "If not for me, you, and your entire kingdom would be burning right now, your ponies dead or dying. If you want, I can suggest to Lord Aleksander to withdraw our forces, and once our engines are repaired, we sterilise the planet from orbit. Or maybe we could perform Exterminatus Extremis, and fire a resonator torpeodo into this star system's sun, and cause it to go supernova. Anyways, I have something very important to brief you on, this cannot wait."

Venatio pulled the sword away, and walked back to the front of the room. As he walked back down, he licked the blood off the sword before sheathing it. The three whispered to each other as more ponies entered the room. Eventually, after ten minutes the room was full of various ponies in armour and some wore lab coats.

"Good morning, everyone and thank you for coming. At any point durring this briefing, if have any questions, feel free to ask. There is no such thing as a stupid question... only a stupid place to ask a question, a stupid time to ask a question, and a stupid thing to ask a question to," Venatio said as he activated the room's holographic projector. "I have asked you here to brief you on a very serious matter. The Horror."

Venatio pressed a button on the holographic projector and an image of a Horror appeared. It had a black carapace, four spiny legs, two arms that ended in four fingers and two apposable thumbs, and six slimy tentacles that came from its back. It had an elongated head with a red beak and four beady black eyes.

"This is what we call a Horror. Its actual species name is Xenoglosiphicus. It sees in the Ultraviolet, Infared, and visual spectrums of light and has a polycarbonate, silicone based, hydrocarbon exoskeleton with a naturally occuring carbon fiber kevlar weave-" Venatio started before being interupted.

"Wait," interupted one of the scientists. "You're telling me that this... thing... is naturally resistant to most forms of magic?"

"I do not know how 'magic' works. I only care about how it can be used as a weapon. Moving on, they are extremely dangerous. Leave one of them alone for thirty minutes with nothing but a tree, two beavers, and a C'tan... and they can have thirty soldiers produced and ready to fight. Though they themselves are physically weak, they still pack a hell of a punch. In the seventeen thousand years that the Terran Empire has been at war with them, we have only captured them on five occasions, three of them killed themselves before we could get any informationn from them," Venatio stated. "This video is from our sister legion, the Rainbow Warriors."

Venatio pressed another button and the lights in the briefing room dimmed. Starting the video, the image of a starship's bridge replaced the image of the Horror. It was the helmet camera of an Adept Angelus. The camera swung around to show row upon row of computer consoles, normal humans sat at these computer consoles and beyond them was a transparisteel veiwport that showed a magnificent veiw of space.

A figure so massive that it could only be an Adept Angelus entered the frame. He, Venatio knew it was male, because the genetic modification was based of the XY chromosome set meaning only males could undergo the genetic augmentation, had armour that was a similar, if not exactly the same colour, as the moon princess's. On his helmet was a single rainbow coloured stripe that ran from the chin guard and up and over the forehead. His left shoulder pauldron bore the image of a rainbow coloured winged lightning bolt.

"Kaos breaks mens souls!" the voice of a commisar yelled off camera. "Kaos breaks mens' minds! Every time we march from our beloved fortress world of Krieg, we march to face down Kaos! To burn heretics that worship the Kaos gods! Tzeentch, god of Change! Slaanesh, god of Dark Lust! Khorne, the Blood god! Nurgle, the god of Decay and Disease! And Discord, god of Hatred and Malice!"

The camera shifted angles and a holographic display of the local space appeared in the camera's veiw. It showed two Apocalypse class battleships, each over ten miles long; twelve Warlord class cruisers, each one about four and a half miles long; and thirty-six Apollo class frigates, each one about one mile long.

All of the ships were in a circular formation, heading towards a large planet as fast as they could. Then, as one, all of the ships cut their engines and activated their manuevering thrusters. The ships slowed down, and brought their bows around for a full broadside, preparing to bombard the planet from orbit.

"Firing first salvo in five, four, three, two, fire," a voice from offscreen called out.

"'My lord! The team on the surface have reported in!" yelled another voice, this one female.

"Go ahead," the voice that was behind the helmet camera replied.

"We have one! We've captured a Horror!"

The bridge crew broke out in cheers, but it quickly faded out when a new force appeared on the holodisplay.

"Helm! Bring us about to bearing zero - four - nine, declination twenty degrees! Star formation! Josaria, who have command of the bridge! I'm going to meet our guest."

And then the holodisplay cut to static and the lights in the room came on. The ponies glanced around the room, looking for Venatio. But he had already left the briefing room, expecting the ponies to come to their own conclusions about what was happening. He wasn't going to spoon feed them like a baby. If they wanted information, they would have to do it the hard way.

* * *

February 4, 945 of the Thirty-first Millenium  
Griffin Empire  
1034 / three weeks four days since arrival of human forces

Twelve black armoured humans walked over the snow covered ground. Each of them carried a Nemesis Halberd, two swords, three pistols, eight knives, and a Angelus Pattern Mark VII Assualt Cannon. The Assault cannon fired a three hundred millimeter armour peircing round through a six feet long barrel at nearly five hundred rounds per second. One of the Adept Angelus shouldered a Krak misile launcher and fired.

Nearly two miles ahead of the squad of Death Guard was a large griffin camp. The Death guard looked at each other and nodded. Inside the camp was nearly one thousand griffin soldiers, and all of them were a threat to the humans.

The Krak missile landed in the camp and detonated, destroying several large tents. The response was nearly immediate. Five hundred griffins rushed out of the camp and towards the Adept Angelus. Bracing themselves for the massive recoil that would tear a normal humans arms off, the Death Guard waited until the griffins had covered a mile and a half before opening fire. In less than five seconds, the Assault Cannons had depleted all of its ammunition and the Death Guard cast them aside. As one, they drew a pistol in each hand and charged. After depleting the magazines, they cast these aside too and drew their swords. By now the griffins had come within a two dozen yards of the squad of Death guard. They fired arrows, but they had no affect against the Death Guard's armour. Realizing that the one advantage they had left was now gone, they tried flying away, but the Death Guard kept up with them step for step, hacking and slashing at the griffins.

In under two minutes, the five hundred griffins that had been sent to eliminate the humans lay dead, nothing more than scattered body parts and bloody pulps.

"We are the Emperor's finest! We are His hammer! The tip of His spear, the edge of His sword! We are Adept Angelus! AND WE SHALL KNOW NO FEAR!


End file.
